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CHINA'S TELECOMMUNICATIONS REVOLUTION. By EricHarwit. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. xvii, 249pp. (Tables, figures.) US$100.00, cloth. ISBN 978-0-19-923374-8.
This book is a welcome addition to a vast and rapidly expanding literature on the rise of an information society in China. This book distinguishes itself from the existing literature by its analytical framework of the industrial policy. The main argument of this book is that China's telecommunications network's expansion and service development in the post-1976 reform period have been shaped not only by market forces but also political conflicts and state-guided competition. The outcomes were manifold increases in network coverage and telecommunications usage. With the improved services (both in terms of quality and variety) , lower prices, and generally greater access for Chinese citizens, Harwit describes China's telecommunications development in the post-reform period as "a shining example of effective competition among state-owned enterprises" (43).
The main part of the book begins with the regulatory framework and then moves on to the network construction, major telecommunications service operators, and telecommunications equipment manufacture. A case study on Shanghai follows. Finally, the issue of inequality, especially in relation to the rural-urban divide, is addressed. While the major emphasis is on the post-reform period, Harwit's analysis on the regulatory framework actually begins as early as the 1860s. In the early reform era (1976-1993), decentralization took place in the form of a "double administrative...