China Launches Corruption Probe Of Telecom Firms
China has launched an anticorruption probe into its telecommunications industry, possibly including some contracts between state-run phone companies and equipment vendors, people familiar with the situation said.
The investigation is being led by China's Ministry of Information Industry and state prosecutors, the people said. Asked about the telecom-industry probe, an official of the state prosecutors' department declined to comment.
Chinese investigators so far haven't alleged wrongdoings by any specific companies, and industry insiders said it remained unclear what the final effect of such an investigation might be. But a crackdown could change the way business is done in the multibillion-dollar sector, industry executives and analysts said. The awarding of contracts often involves corrupt practices such as kickbacks, as well as free overseas trips and other perks for some phone-company officials involved in selecting equipment, industry executives and analysts said.
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They said that some executives at Chinese telecom carriers often demand that equipment vendors funnel contracts through third-party companies, so that they or associates can skim off some of the cash. That extra payoff can raise costs for vendors who sell products like phones, network equipment or other services to the carriers. It also means carrier executives are sometimes more focused on enriching themselves than getting the best price for products and services. That costs the Chinese government money and creates an uneven playing field for vendors bidding on contracts.
"I think foreign companies would be very happy to have the Chinese government engaged to clean up this practice," said Anne Stevenson-Yang, the Beijing representative for the U.S. Information Technology Office, an industry trade group. "No one wants to engage in corrupt practices."
Corruption isn't a new problem in the Chinese telecom industry. In April, U.S. equipment supplier Lucent Technologies Inc. dismissed its two top China officials after an internal investigation uncovered "internal control deficiencies," including potential violations of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. That piece of U.S. law generally prohibits bribery and other corrupt activity by American companies operating overseas.
Lucent said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission at the time that a total of four people -- including the president and chief operating officer of its China business, as well as a marketing executive and a finance manager -- were "separated from the company" because of the incidents.
The incidents were reported to the SEC and the U.S. Department of Justice, and "we continue to cooperate" with those agencies, Lucent spokesman Richard J. Wright, who is based in Hong Kong, said Thursday. "That's all I can say at this point."
People familiar with the matter said Lucent has turned over to the Chinese government a copy of its report on the recent case and that the Chinese government is studying it.
China's four biggest phone companies are fixed-line carriers China Telecommunications Corp. and China Network Communications Group Corp., known as China Netcom, and wireless companies China Mobile Communications Corp. and China Unicom Group. Two smaller companies are China Railways Communications Co. and China Satellite Communications Corp.
The subscriber bases of the four larger companies are enormous and growing fast, making them highly prized customers for global equipment vendors: The publicly traded unit of China Mobile said last month it had 194.4 million subscribers.
Officials at China Telecom, China Unicom and China Netcom said they hadn't been contacted about any investigation. Officials at the other three companies couldn't be reached for comment.
Analysts and industry officials say corruption is a problem in the Chinese telecom sector because of the huge amounts of money changing hands. Even a midlevel official in charge of maintaining and building networks in just one of China's 31 provinces could be handling hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts a year.
Spending is particularly high on new mobile networks, said Dave Carini, an analyst with Norson Telecom Consulting in Beijing. Investment bank Morgan Stanley estimates that a company building a brand-new, "third-generation," or 3G, advanced wireless network could spend $7 billion to $10 billion getting it up and running over five years.
The government anticorruption investigation comes just as several of China's largest phone outfits are gearing up to spend billions of dollars on new 3G networks, possibly as soon as next year. Companies such as Lucent, Motorola Inc., Telefon AB L.M. Ericsson, Alcatel SA and Nokia Corp. were involved in recent field tests of 3G equipment in China. Domestic firms such as Huawei Technologies Co. and ZTE Corp. provided equipment as well.
中国对电信业展开反腐败调查
据知情人士称，中国已对电信行业展开反腐败调查，调查可能涉及国有电话公司与设备供应商签订的一些合同。
这些人士称，调查由中国信息产业部(Ministry of Information Industry)和国家检察机关牵头。最高人民检察院的一位官员在被问及此调查时拒绝发表评论。
调查人员迄今为止尚未宣称发现有具体企业存在不法行为。行业内部人士表示，目前尚不清楚此项调查的效果如何。但行业管理人士和分析师们称，对腐败行为的打击行动可能会改变市场规模达数十亿美元的电信行业的行为方式。
业内管理人士和分析师们称，目前，要赢得合同，供应商经常要向一些电话公司参与设备采购的管理人士提供贿赂，如回扣、免费出国旅游以及其他好处等。
他们说，中国电信运营商的一些管理人士经常要求设备供应商将合同交由第三方企业完成，这样他们或其利益相关人便可从中提取部分好处。这种额外开销会增加向电信运营商销售电话、网络设备或其他服务的经销商的成本。这也意味著电信运营商的管理人员有时更多想到的是如何中饱私囊，而不是考虑如何获得价格最优惠的产品和服务。这耗费了政府的资金，并给竞标合同的经销商制造了不公平的竞争环境。
美国行业团体信息技术办公室(U.S. Information Technology Office)驻北京代表Anne Stevenson-Yang称，她认为外国公司将非常乐意中国政府介入、对这种做法进行清理。她说，没有人愿意卷入腐败行为。
腐败在中国电信行业并不是什么新闻。今年月份，美国设备供应商朗讯科技(Lucent Technologies Inc., LU)开除了两名中国业务高级管理人士。此前朗讯科技在内部调查中发现“公司内部控制不力”，其中包括可能违反了美国《反海外腐败法》。该法律普遍禁止美国公司在海外的经营活动有贿赂和其他腐败行为。
朗讯科技当时在提交给美国证券交易委员会(Securities and Exchange Commission)的文件中称，总共有4人因此事件而“脱离了公司”，其中包括中国子公司的总裁和首席运营长，以及一名营销管理人员和一名财务经理。
朗讯科技驻香港的发言人Richard J. Wright周四称，该事件已上报美国证券交易委员会(SEC0和美国司法部(Department of Justice)，公司仍在同上述机构进行合作。
知情人士称，朗讯科技已向中国政府提交了有关这一事件的报告副本，中国政府正在审阅该报告。
中国最大的四家电话公司分别为固定电话运营商中国电信集团公司(China Telecommunications Corporation, 简称：中国电信)、中国网络通信集团公司(China Network Communications Group, 简称：中国网通集团)以及无线通讯运营商中国移动通信集团公司(China Mobile Communications Corporation, MCC.YY)和中国联通股份有限公司(China Unicom Ltd., CHU)。还有两家规模较小的电信企业中国铁路通信资讯有限责任公司(China Railways Communications Co.)和中国卫星通信集团有限公司(China Satellite Communications Corp., 简称：中国卫通)。
中国四大电信公司的用户基础庞大，并在快速增长，这使它们成为全球设备供应商竞相追逐的目标。中国移动的公开上市子公司上个月曾表示，其用户数量达1.944亿。
中国电信、中国联通和中国网通的管理人员称，其尚未获得有关任何调查的通知。记者无法联系到另三家公司的管理人士获得置评。
分析师和业内管理人士称，由于涉及金额巨大，腐败在中国电信业是个严重问题。即便是负责中国某一个省区网络建设和维护的公司中层管理人员一年中就有可能经手数亿美元的合同。
诺盛电信咨询(Norson Telecom Consulting)驻北京的分析师Dave Carini称，新的无线通讯网络尤其耗资巨大。据投资银行摩根士丹利(Morgan Stanley)估计，一公司建设一个全新的第三代移动通讯网络可能会耗资70亿-100亿美元，其中包括建网费用和5年的运行费用。
中国政府的反腐败调查正值一些中国最大的电话公司斥资数十亿美元加快第三代移动通讯网络建设之际。该网络最早可能会在明年推出。朗讯科技、摩托罗拉(Motorola Inc., MOT)、爱立信(L.M. Ericsson Telephone Co., ERIC-B.SK, 又名:易立信)、阿尔卡特(Alcatel SA, ALA)和诺基亚(Nokia Corp., NOK)均参与了近期中国3G设备的实地测试。华为技术有限公司(Huawei Technologies Co.,Ltd)和深圳市中兴通讯股份有限公司(ZTE Corp., 000063.SZ, 简称：中兴通讯)等国内企业也为该项目提供了设备。
