Recently the revised version of the Administrative Measures for the Licensing of Telecommunication Business Operation (Draft) (“the Draft”) was published by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (“MIIT”) for public comments.

Article 3 is new in the Draft, which provides that China will establish an integrated management platform for the telecommunication industry, to promote the online license application, approval and management, and the publication, inquiry and sharing of related information.

The Draft added a new provision in Article 5 and 6, providing that to apply for telecommunication business license “the company and its main management personnel are not on the List of Dishonest Telecommunication Business" (“the List”), which aims to strengthen the binding effect and guiding function of the industry credit mechanism encouraging business operators to be honest and value credibility. In accordance with this provision, companies will not be allowed to apply for telecommunication business license if it is on the List.

The Draft made significant modification to Article 36 and 37, which have replaced the Annual Inspection System by the Annual Report and Publication System. In the first quarter of each year, the telecommunication business operators shall report to the authority their whole-year operation performance, special matters, and how their network and information security mechanism was executed in the previous year.