Mobile content providers, operators and the MII look set to clash over a controversial plan to regulate the wireless data sector.

The plan, from the Value-Added Services Committee of the China Association of Communications Enterprises, proposes the ten biggest VAS firms come under direct regulation by the MII, while the rest of the industry will continue to be overseen by the two mobile carriers.

The committee sent three documents to the MII outlining the plan in early August. One committee member said at this stage the proposals were “still a long way from becoming actual laws and regulations,” China Business Post reported. Its proposals argue that because the biggest ten VAS providers account for 80% of the mobile content market they should be subject to the direct administration of the MII.

That left “thousands of sites” to compete for the remaining 20%, the paper said, urging the ministry to focus on supervising the main parts of the market instead of trying to mount regulation on a massive scale.

 The group said the top ten mobile firms were 3G.net.cn, Kongzhong, Le Xun, Mobile Baidu, Mobile Sohu, Mobile Tencent, Mobile Sina, Netease WAP, Yicha, and China Mobile Monternet. Regulation of the unruly mobile content sector has long vexed the MII and the Ministry of Public Security, who have wished to achieve the same level as control as they have over Internet content.

Current arrangements leave China Mobile and Unicom as de facto regulators, as well as being active players in the market themselves.However, executives from smaller mobile VAS firms are lining up to assail the plan. “This kind of industry model doesn’t help establish a fair regulatory system – it benefits only the so-called ten big sites. At the same time as throwing off control by the operators, it also sets up barriers around their own content,” said one industry executive.

He added that the “2+10 model” also contained a number of gray areas, and would “very likely attract the ire of the industry.”The head of another WAP content provider said establishing a third-party billing regulatory system was not realistic. “The networks and technologies are all in the carriers’ hands,” he said.

“It’s like taking food from the tiger’s mouth.” An official from Wandie blogging site said consumers were bound to object to any plan which involved transferring their private data into the hands of another company. The committee papers also canvassed whether the threshold for licensing should be 1 million yuan or 10 million yuan. The higher threshold would make it easier for the government to limit companies trying to enter the industry, the committee member said.

THIS ARTICLE IS EXTRACTED FROM SUBSCRIBER COPIES OF COMMS CHINA ... FREE TRIALS AVAILABLE LEFT 

add to delicious | add to digg | search technorati