“Universal service” and China's telecommunications miracle: discourses, practices, and post‐WTO accession challenges

Abstract

PurposeTo examine “universal service” as a policy objective in post‐WTO accession Chinese telecommunications and analyze the challenges of the Chinese telecommunications system in defining and promoting public service ethos in a country that is marked by staggering disparities.Design/methodology/approachA range of media, academic, industry, and policy discourses on “universal service” and a broader notion of “public service,” together with recent government efforts in promoting “universal service,” are examined and assessed to develop an analysis of the uneven nature of China's telecommunications development and reveal the dynamics of “universal service” policy formation, as well as the impetuses and impediments in developing any notion of public service telecommunications in China.FindingsPublic service issues in China need to be situated within a continuing process of uneven development which comprises dimensions other than residential telephone access. Although the ultimate policy goal appears to develop a nationally accessible telecommunications infrastructure as the basis of a unified national economy, this overall objective is beset by conflicts and contingent on the dynamics of elite and popular struggles over and beyond telecommunications development. Despite the spectacular expansion in telephone access, pragmatic concessions to dominant power groups, rather than a principled commitment to “universal service,” let alone efforts to define the social functions of telecommunications in more democratic ways, have shaped the development of China's telecommunications.Originality/valueThe development of China's telecommunications infrastructure offers lessons both as to the likelihood of successfully establishing an integrated national economy, and the role of public service in that context. However, the Chinese telecommunications policy field remains extremely fluid.