For those who doubt that China's telecom regulators are serious about reform, here's a stat: 6.82 million.
That's the number of voice customers China Telecom and Netcom between them lost last year- 2.0% of lines in service.
It's the first time either carrier had seen a net line loss. The change in fortune follows China Mobile issued its new caller-party pays prices in the middle of the year.
Indeed, you can pinpoint the turnaround almost to the month: July in the case of Netcom; August in the case of Telecom. Since then both carriers have been bleeding steadily. China Telecom lost a staggering 2.5 million customers in December.
It was no wonder by the end of '07 MII boss Wang Xudong and senior vice-minister Xi Guohua were talking up a restructure. China Mobile meanwhile added 68 million customers last year and is consuming almost all of the growth in the telecom sector. Not even the millstone of TD-SCDMA is slowing it down.
The previous reform plan - to the extent there was one - was to hang in there until TD finally rolled out, and at that point wave 3G licenses in front of the carriers to coax them into rearranging themselves.
Only a looming crisis such as this could propel all of the players in this drama into action. OK, we haven't seen any action yet, or even a plan for action. But at least the many writers of this script have agreed there should be a plot.