MIIT, Housing Ministry Call For Telecom Infrastructure Development Plans

On September 25, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development (MOHURT) jointly issued a notice on further developing urban telecommunications infrastructure, with an emphasis on accelerating implementation of the 2013 "China Broadband" Strategic Implementation Plan and the 2015 State Council Guiding Opinions on Accelerating Broadband Network Construction and Reducing Network Costs. 

Specifically, the Notice calls on municipal governments to draft telecommunications infrastructure development plans by the end of 2016 for first-tier cities and by the end of 2017 for all remaining cities. Drafting is to be done jointly by local housing and informatization authorities, and drafts submitted to MIIT and MOHURT for ministerial review. 

Local development plans should accommodate demand for telecommunications base stations, base towers, and other key communications infrastructure, based on existing population and informatization levels, according to the Notice.