MIIT Opens Up Value Added Telecoms Services to Hong Kong and Macau-based Service Providers

On June 30, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) released the Announcement on Matters Concerning the Provision of Telecommunication Services for Hong Kong and Macau-based Service Providers Operating in the Mainland, which gives Hong Kong and Macau-based service providers more access to the restricted Value-added Telecom Services.
 
According to the announcement, service providers from Hong Kong and Macau are allowed to establish joint ventures or wholly owned enterprises in the mainland and provide six categories of value added telecom (VAT) services with no restrictions on proportion of their stakes. Those services include:
 

• Online data processing and transaction processing services (limited to business e-commerce)
• Domestic multi-party communication services in the mainland (i.e. "domestic multi-party communication service" in the Catalog of Classified Telecom Services)
• Storage and forwarding services
• Call center services
• Internet access services (for users accessing the Internet alone)
• Information services (limited to app stores)

 
Furthermore, service providers from Hong Kong and Macau are allowed to establish joint ventures in the mainland and provide the following value added telecom services with proportion of their stakes not exceeding 50% in the following categories:
 
 

• Online data processing and transaction processing services (except for business e-commerce)
• Domestic Internet virtual private network services in the mainland China  (i.e. "domestic Internet virtual private network service" in the Catalog of Classified Telecom Services)
• Internet data center services
• Internet access services (except for users accessing the Internet alone)
• Information services (except for app stores)