China Netcom

{{Infobox company

| name = China Netcom

| logo = China Network Communications.jpg

| fate = Merged into China Unicom

| company_slogan =

| type = State-owned enterprise

| foundation = {{start date and age|1999}}

| location = Beijing, China

| industry = Telecommunication

| revenue = {{profit}} US$7.844 billion (2004)

| num_employees = 92,788

| defunct = {{start date and age|2008|10|6|df=yes}}

| key_people =

| products =

}}

File:China Netcom Corporation 中国網絡通信A075919CNC.jpg branch]]

China Netcom, full name China Netcom Group Corporation (Hong Kong) Limited (former stock codes: HKEX:0906, NYSE:CN), abbreviated CNC, was a telecommunication service provider in People's Republic of China. It was formed in August 1999 by the Chinese government to enable inward investments to build high speed Internet communications in the country.

Sectors

CNC was a provider of wire-line telecommunications services in mainland China, mainly to areas in the north of China. The firm was building a new broadband Internet backbone across the country. It was widely seen as the number two fixed-line operator in mainland China after China Telecommunications Corporation, and operated a semi-mobile PAS or xiaolingtong system.

Traditionally services were provided by the company to northern Chinese provinces and large cities such as Shanghai, Guangdong, Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Henan, Shandong, and Liaoning; however, later they had a presence in most provinces.

As well as offering ADSL internet services (not always available outside of north China), the company offered internet collocation services and was a leading provider of connectivity to China's so-called 'IP telephone' shops, who offer discount rate, walk-in telephony services to the general public across China.

Moreover, ChinaNetcom was the Beijing 2008 Olympic's Official telecommunications operator and partner and provided fixed-line telecommunications services for the Beijing Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games. It offered good fixed-lined telecommunication service and ensured its network was stable during the Good Luck Beijing Test Sport Event, the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games{{Citation needed|date=November 2011}}.

History

The company started as a wholesaler for high-speed data networks in 1999, headquartered in Shanghai{{Citation needed|date=March 2023}}. It was backed by Jiang Mianheng, Jiang Zemin's son, and Liu Chuanzhi, chairman of Legend Computers (now Lenovo). However, the business flopped partly because at the time China Telecommunications Corporation (China Telecom Group) held a monopoly over the telecom market.{{cite web

|url=http://www.asiaweek.com/asiaweek/magazine/dateline/0,8782,181179,00.html

|title=China Netcom's Big Connection

|date=2001-11-02

|accessdate=2006-10-21

|first=Yasmin

|last=Ghahremani

|publisher=Asiaweek

}}

Netcom was on the verge of bankruptcy. {{Citation needed|date=March 2023}} Fortunately for Netcom, with the backing of Jiang's son{{Citation needed|date=March 2023}}, the Chinese government broke up the China Telecom monopoly and granted Netcom a third of China Telecom's assets.{{cite news

|title=Lines Crossed in China

|newspaper=The Washington Post

|date=2002-08-17

|first=John

|last=Pomfret

|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/world/A28586-2002Aug16.html

|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024211032/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/world/A28586-2002Aug16.html

|archivedate=October 24, 2012

|url-status=dead

|accessdate=2006-10-21

}} [http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/55/873.html Alt URL] Most of those assets are located in the northern provinces.

Merger with China Unicom

China Netcom was a subsidiary of China Network Communications Group Corporation.[https://finance.yahoo.com/q/pr?s=CN Yahoo profile]. Accessed June 4, 2006.

On June 2, 2008, Netcom announced its intention to merge with China Unicom, after the latter sold its CDMA network to China Telecommunications Corporation. The combined company has all the assets of China Netcom, plus Unicom's nationwide GSM network with 125 million subscribers, as well as its smaller dial-up and ADSL ISP business.{{Cite web |url=http://www.chinaunicom.com.hk/en/press/pressrelease/news.html?id=4581 |title=China Netcom / China Unicom Press Release about Merger |access-date=2008-06-02 |archive-date=2015-09-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923202846/http://www.chinaunicom.com.hk/en/press/pressrelease/news.html?id=4581 |url-status=dead }}

The merger was completed on 6 October 2008. China Netcom became a wholly owned subsidiary of China Unicom and the listings of its shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and its American depositary receipt Shares on the New York Stock Exchange were withdrawn.[https://web.archive.org/web/20110604013914/http://www.forbes.com/feeds/afx/2008/09/29/afx5487083.html China Netcom to be removed from Hong Kong's Hang Seng index on Oct 6]

Complaints about spam

China Netcom and its domain cnc-noc.net have been noted in the West as a source of e-mail spam and host of spamvertised websites for products such as pills, porn and poker.

In 2008, Norwegian researchers identified cnc-noc.net as "by far the world's worst ISP", and noted that the ISP did not respond to incident reports.[http://aasli.com/incidents/ Virus/worm incidents and intruders statistics], January - March 2008

Spamhaus lists the Unicom ISP as the 3rd worst ISP for spamming.