New guidelines unveiled to innovate telecom management, improve business environment: MIIT

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) unveiled new guidelines on Tuesday, vowing to strengthen the innovation of telecom management and aiming to further improve the business environment, and stimulating the vitality of the digital economy. Addressing the concerns of enterprises and the market, the guidelines cover reform and innovation comprehensively across the four dimensions of market access, competition, regulation, and service for the purpose of optimize the business environment in the information and communication sector.

Aiming to improve market access management, the guidelines propose to achieve "one-time application, one-stop approval" for new technologies and applications across various telecom services.

Additionally, the guidelines encourage to expand the opening up of telecom services in pilot areas, further opening up value-added telecom services to foreign investment, and allowing more private-capital involvement in this sector.

"The reform of the second-category value-added telecom services implemented in the free trade zone has now been extended to 21 regions where free trade zones and free trade ports are located. Additionally, measures such as shortening approval time have been taken. According to our research, the approval time for some administrative licenses can be reduced by over 70 percent," said Luo Luojia, deputy director of the Regulatory Department, Policy and Economic Research Institute, China Academy of Information and Communications Technology.

According to the guidelines, the MIIT will promote flexible regulatory approaches including giving administrative guidance and holding admonition talks, so that routine supervision and inspection would least affect business operations.

The number of telecommunication and internet enterprises in China has reached 169,000, with over 92 percent being privately held enterprises. Also, the number of foreign-invested telecommunication enterprises has increased by over 35 percent year on year, according to data from the MIIT.

"The continuous optimization of the entire process of market access has led to the rapid growth of market entities in the information communication sector. By the end of 2023, the total number of information and communication enterprises had exceeded 160,000," Luo said.

New guidelines unveiled to innovate telecom management, improve business environment: MIIT

Wine companies in Italy are anxious as U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on the so-called "reciprocal tariffs," imposing a 20-percent tariff on the European Union.

Giulia D'Alema, head of a family-owned wine business in Italy's Umbria region, is facing significant uncertainty for the upcoming wine sales season following the announcement of tariffs on EU products, including wine.

Her family's 7.5-hectare vineyard has completed its major annual tasks — trimming, tying, and weeding — to ensure healthy grape growth and a fruitful harvest.

However, despite these preparations, D'Alema is troubled by the looming threat of new tariffs on Italian wines exported to the United States.

The United States is a key market for Italian wines, with exports valued at approximately 2 billion euros in 2024 alone.

Yet, the announcement by U.S. President Donald Trump has put this vital export market at risk.

"If tariffs are imposed, U.S. importers won't be able to import my wine because selling my rose will no longer be profitable for them. I've already increased production specifically for this (U.S.) market, so now I have to find other ways to absorb this surplus," said D'Alema.

In the wine-producing region of Umbria in central Italy, it is the small and medium-sized wineries that are hit the hardest. Large enterprises can mitigate risks by adjusting their market strategies, but small family-owned businesses often rely on a single market. The imposition of tariffs creates a great deal of uncertainty for their operations.

In 2024, Italy's bottled wine exports to the United States reached 1.94 billion euros. According to calculations by the largest agricultural association in Italy, the Italian Confederation of Farmers (CIA), if tariffs prevent Italian wines from being exported to the United States, Italian wineries could face daily losses of 6 million U.S. dollars.

Trump's 20 pct tariffs on EU raise concerns for Italian wine export