China Mobile: Chairman Wang Preparing to Leave? 中国移动：王建宙董事长要退休？

Chinese media are reporting there’s been another big move at the top of China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL), a further indication that long-serving Chairman Wang Jianzhou could be preparing to retire. The latest move will see Xi Guohua take over from Wang as party secretary for China Mobile’s state-owned parent, arguably the second most important position at the company after the chairmanship itself. (Chinese article) Xi’s appointment comes just a year after Li Yue took over the president’s position at the listed company from Wang. This latest move would leave Wang with just the chairman’s title, and will no doubt add fuel to talk over the last year or so that he will soon retire from the company, which seems likely. So, what does it all mean? Probably very little, to be honest, as the top posts at all the major telcos are all held by party officials, many with engineering and technical backgrounds. Li was trained as an engineer, and Xi appears to have spent most of his recent career at the country’s telecoms regulator in various posts. The appointment of such well-connected bureaucrats would normally look good for a company in this highly-regulated market, except that the top ranks at China Mobile’s two rivals, Unicom (HKEx: 762; NYSE: CHU) and China Telecom (HKEx: 728; NYSE: CHA), are also dominated by such bureaucrats. I would say to look for Wang’s retirement by the end of this year, which will deprive it of a charismatic leader but little else. After that happens, look for the company to maintain its current direction which, as I’ve previously reported, could see it finally start to aggressively promote its 3G service if and when it signs a deal to offer an Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPhone for its 3G network.

Bottom line: The latest appointment at the top of China Mobile points to the departure of Chairman Wang Jianzhou by year end, but don’t look for any major changes in company strategy.

中国媒体纷纷报导中国移动<0941.HK><CHL.N> 高层的人事变动情况，进一步说明，王建宙董事长可能要退休。最新一轮人事调整中，奚国华将取代王建宙出任中国移动党组书记，这是中国移动内部仅次于董事长的一个职位。而一年前，李跃取代王建宙，出任了上市公司中国移动的总裁职位。如此一来，王继凯仅剩董事长头衔，这毫无疑问地让人们更加确信，他将很快退休。那麽，这一切又都意味着什麽呢？说实话，也许没什麽，因为这些大型电信企业的高层领导，都由党内官员担任，其中很多是工程和技术背景。李跃是工程师出身，奚国华职业生涯多数时候是在中国电信监管部门担任过多个职位。在这样一个受到高度监管的行业里，安排这些关系网广泛的官员任职，对这家公司看起来是好事。我估计王建宙会在年底退休，期待这家公司沿着现行的方向前进，大力推行3G服务，并拭目以待该公司是否及何时与苹果合作推出适用於中国移动3G网络的iPhone。

一句话：中国移动最新的高层人事变动情况说明，王建宙可能在年底退休，但估计公司其他战略不会有大的变动。

Related postings 相关文章:

◙ Apple’s COO Comes Calling on China Mobile 苹果首席运营官造访中移动

◙ China Mobile Finally Pushing on 3G 中国移动终於要大力推动3G业务

◙ Unicom, China Telecom Come Nipping at China Mobile’s 3G Heels 中国联通和中国电信紧盯中国移动3G市场