Emerging mobile platform competition in China's 3G era and beyond

China's telecommunications industry entered 3G era in early 2000, after the government awarded three 3G licenses to three telecommunications operator: China Mobile Ltd., China Unicorn Corp. and China Telecom Ltd., and full scale competition ensured since then. In this article we describe the three operators' competition from the perspective of two-sided platforms and evaluate the Chinese government's telecom policy which shapes the mobile business sector in the 3G era and beyond. Amid the unstable institutional environment and uncertainty about the future trend of mobile technology, the industry players in China's mobile telecom industry are facing great challenges for developing their strategies.