China Blacklists 102 Wireless Services Companies

China’s telecoms regulator has accused 102 companies of illegal behavior in the country’s wireless value-added services industry, the latest step in a renewed campaign to clean up the unruly sector.

It did not specify what the illegal practices were, but in the past such campaigns have been directed at controversial content and services like pornography and gambling, as well as spam.

The list includes software makers like Kingsoft and Shanghai Sifang Information Technology.

One analyst predicted the policy changes could see the industry contract by 30 percent or more.

Among the major changes in the original announcement, companies will be required to offer free one-month trials for their services, and will be required to verify that consumers actually want their services renewed on a regular basis. Link

Any such wide-ranging ban which doesn’t cite specific reasons bothers me. It is very much possible that they have very good reasons to blacklist, but without full disclosure such moves are likely to scare new entrants in wireless services sector.