China Mobile has its sights set on the U.S. wireless market

中国移动进军美国三大招

It's difficult to ignore China Mobile (CHL). The world's largest wireless carrier as measured by subscribers -- 760 million at last count -- the company is so successful in its home country that the Chinese government wants to reduce the its domestic dominance by allowing two other state-controlled carriers, China Unicom and China Telecom, to establish a joint venture to build and manage telecommunications infrastructure in the country.

人们很难忽视中国移动（China Mobile）。按照用户人数计算（最近统计的数据为7.6亿人），它是全世界最大的无线运营商。由于它在中国本土如此成功，以至于中国政府为了削弱它的支配地位，甚至允许另外两家国家控股运营商——中国联通（China Unicom）和中国电信（China Telecom），成立合营公司，建设和管理中国的电信基础设施。

It's understandable, then, that China Mobile has recently expressed interest in flexing its substantial muscle in overseas markets. Chairman Xi Guohua in particular has made no secret of the fact that the state-owned enterprise is ready to explore growth opportunities in North America and Europe. The news comes on the heels of the launch of China's first 4G network, which China Mobile hopes to leverage overseas to build a global footprint and boost profitability.

因此，中国移动近期表示希望进军海外市场的举动也就不难理解了。尤其是中国移动董事长奚国华，从不掩饰公司准备在北美与欧洲市场寻找发展机会的事实。这家公司推出中国首个4G网络之后就宣布了这个消息。中国移动希望利用4G网络打开海外市场，为公司开拓全球业务，提高盈利能力。

Could China Mobile pose a serious threat to the likes of Verizon (VZN) and AT&T (T)? Analysts say the hurdles are high for entry into the crowded U.S. market.

中国移动能否对威瑞森（Verizon）和美国电话电报公司（AT&T）等构成严重威胁？分析师们认为，进入竞争激烈的美国市场面临着许多障碍。

"Because it lacks spectrum and mobile licenses, it would need to acquire existing operators, buy spectrum in future auctions, or enter the market as an MVNO," says Julian Watson, an analyst at the research firm IHS Technology in London. A mobile virtual network operator, or MVNO, typically buys access to network services from an existing operator at wholesale rates, then resells to its own retail subscribers.

伦敦市场研究公司HIS Technology分析师朱利安•沃森认为：“由于中国移动没有频谱和移动牌照，因此，它可能需要收购现有的运营商，在未来的拍卖中购买频谱，或作为MVNO进入市场。”MVNO或移动虚拟网络运营商，通常按批发价从现有运营商购买网络服务使用权，之后将其转售给自己的零售用户。

To date, China Mobile's only foreign play is in Pakistan. In 2007, it purchased Paktel for about $300 million. Making a significant acquisition in the U.S. would be difficult, but not impossible.

到目前为止，中国移动的海外市场只有巴基斯坦。2007年，中国移动以3亿美元收购了巴科泰尔有限公司（Paktel）。要在美国进行大规模收购并不容易，但也并不是完全没有可能。

Japan's SoftBank, which acquired the No. 3 U.S. wireless carrier Sprint (S) in 2012, is expected to make a bid for the No. 4 U.S. carrier, T-Mobile (TMUS), next month. SoftBank is believed to need to combine the two wireless carriers if it hopes to compete head-to-head with Verizon and AT&T, though U.S. regulators have expressed concern that such a merger would reduce competition and negatively impact American consumers.

日本的软银集团（SoftBank）2012年收购了美国第3大无线运营商斯普林特（Sprint），还计划在下个月出价收购美国第四大运营商T-Mobile。如果软银要想与威瑞森和AT&T正面交锋，必须合并这两家无线运营商，尽管美国监管部门担心合并将减少竞争，进而对美国消费者造成不利影响。

If regulators sink the deal before the year is out -- just as they did with AT&T's proposed $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile in 2011 -- it could open the door to China Mobile negotiating an agreement with T-Mobile's parent company, Deutsche Telekom.

如果在年底之前，监管部门反对这笔交易，正如它曾在2011年反对AT&T以290亿美元收购T-Mobile一样，中国移动将迎来机会，有望与T-Mobile的母公司德国电信进行谈判。

There are other ways to enter the U.S. market. China Mobile's second option is buying spectrum. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has kicked off its first major auction of wireless airwaves in six years. The most valuable band, low-frequency airwaves in the 600 MHz range currently being used for broadcast TV signals, is scheduled to hit the block in 2015.

要进入美国市场，还有其他途径。中国移动的第二种选择是购买频谱。美国联邦通信委员会（U.S. Federal Communications Commission）启动了六年来第一次大规模无线频谱拍卖。其中，目前用于传输电视信号的在600 MHz频率范围内最有价值的低频频谱将于2015开始拍卖。

China Mobile need not go after the spectrum alone, either. The company could partner with a U.S. wireless carrier to bid for the newly available band. In additional to cost sharing, China Mobile would enjoy compatibility: The 4G standard used in China, known as TD-LTE (Time Division-Long Term Evolution), complements the standard used in the U.S., FD-LTE (Frequency Division-Long-Term Evolution).

中国移动不需要亲自参与频谱的竞购。它可以与一家美国无线运营商合作，竞购新推出的频谱。这种做法除了可以分担成本外，还可以帮助中国移动获得兼容性优势：中国使用的4G标准TD-LTE（时分长期演进）可以补充美国使用的标准FD-LTE（频分长期演进）。

"The benefit of TD-LTE is to complement FD-LTE to increase capacity in peak hours and in congested cells," says Sandy Shen, research director in Gartner's Shanghai office, noting that the two wireless standards can be co-located on the same tower.

高德纳（Gartner's）上海分公司研究总监桑迪•沈说：“TD-LTE的好处在于可以对FD-LTE进行补充，提高FD-LTE在高峰时段和拥堵状况下的容量。”他认为这两种无线通信标准可以在同一个信号塔上实现同地协作。

Which U.S. company would be interested in partnering with China Mobile on a spectrum bid? Verizon. Earlier this year, the company completed the acquisition of the 45 percent stake it did not already own in Verizon Wireless from U.K.-based Vodafone in a massive deal valued at $130 billion. With so much debt on its balance sheet, Verizon might see China Mobile as a compelling financial partner in next year's spectrum auction.

哪家美国公司会有兴趣与中国移动合作竞购频谱呢？答案是威瑞森。今年早些时候，威瑞森以1,300亿美元的价格从英国沃达丰公司（Vodafone）买断了威瑞森无线（Verizon Wireless）45%的股份。由于背负着巨额债务，威瑞森在明年的频谱竞拍中可能会将中国移动看作强有力的财务合作伙伴。

Finally, China Mobile could establish a toehold in the U.S. market as an MVNO. Though it's small potatoes for a wireless giant like China Mobile -- which has three times the number of subscribers to AT&T and Verizon combined -- the establishment of even a small presence in North America could pay dividends in the long run. "China Mobile has advantages in serving consumers and businesses that have a connection to China," Gartner's Shen says.

最后，中国移动也可以以移动虚拟网络运营商的身份在美国市场立足。中国移动这样的无线通信巨头可能会对这种方式不屑一顾，但从长期来看，在北美市场即便获得很少的份额，也能带来好处。中国移动的用户人数是AT&T与威瑞森两家之和的三倍。高德纳的沈说：“中国移动在服务与中国有关联的消费者和公司方面具有优势。”

It's a strategy that has worked for rival China Telecom, which signed a wholesale agreement with U.K. mobile operator Everything Everywhere in 2012. China Telecom estimates there are some 600,000 Chinese people living in the U.K., but even with a comparably small subscriber base the company makes money by keeping its investment small and operations lean. China Telecom is now looking at Germany, France, Italy, and Spain for similar expansion.

中国移动的竞争对手中国电信就采用了这种策略。2012年，中国电信与英国移动运营商Everything Everywhere签署了批发协议。据中国电信估计，约有600,000名中国人居住在英国。虽然用户数量相对较少，但中国电信依然可以通过小规模投资和运营，来获取利润。中国电信目前正在采用类似的方式在德国、法国、意大利和西班牙寻求扩张。

Whatever decision it makes in the next 12 months, China Mobile has a number of viable options for achieving its goal of expanding into the U.S. Now it just needs to take the leap.

无论中国移动在未来12个月内做出什么样的决定，它都有许多可行的选择，实现进军美国市场的目标。现在，它需要做的就是迈出这一步。

中国移动进军美国三大招