RESIDENTS living in several urban villages in Bao’an and Longgang districts recently complained that Internet connections have been cut for days by companies that are trying to monopolize the market, the Shenzhen Economic Daily reported yesterday.

    Chen lives in Huaide New Village in Fuyong Subdistrict in Bao’an. He told the paper that the Internet connection he had set up three days ago had stopped working.

    Chen set up a six-month deal with China Welan, an Internet service provider, for 410 yuan (US$63) last month. The network stopped only after functioning for three days.

    A company employee told Chen that all Internet service in the area were cut off by someone else. More than 60 users of China Welan had been affected.

    The employee said the wires used to deliver the Internet to the community had been severed by the community management office. The employee said the community planned to put all cables underground, but only a few companies had cooperated with the office.

    According to the employee, the office then cut the network cables of companies that did not put their cables underground.

    Smaller Internet providers said this isn’t true. The smaller companies claimed large companies, like China Telecom, are trying to cut off their services to control the area’s market.

    Another resident, surnamed Su, living in the Langxin Community in Bao’an District, said that she spent 720 yuan on a network package from a small-sized Internet provider, but, like Chen, Su’s connection stopped working after being used for less than two weeks. The company did not have underground cables.

    Cables strewn between houses is a widespread problem in urban villages, with the Shenzhen government making efforts to embed all cables underground.

    According to the report, competition among operators and poor communication with the government caused the problem.

    Installation of underground cables was assigned to China Telecom in Huaide New Village where Chen lives. According to a staff member from China Welan, China Telecom did not allow others to use the pipes they placed underground to contain their cables. The community management office did not allow the other companies to place their wires underground either.

    China Welan attempted to communicate with China Telecom, but did not get a response. Welan promised to refund their customers if the problem cannot be fixed.

    Another operator, known as Julong Network, also pointed its finger at China Telecom. A regional manager surnamed Li said that he was responsible for the customers at Lishipai Village.

    Li said Julong Network entered the village legally in June last year after signing contracts with the local property management company. Their cables were above ground. The company only knew they needed to put their cables underground after property management had severed them.

    When the company attempted to put the wires underground, they were stopped by China Telecom and were told that only China Telecom could use the underground channels.

    According to Li, over 2,000 network users from other operators, including China Unicom and the Great Wall Broadband Network, were affected.

    The Dafapu Community is in charge of the management of Lishipai Village. The community said they started forcing companies to put their cables underground in October last year.

    The subdistrict office claimed they contacted the smaller companies, but only China Telecom agreed to invest and build underground passages for cables.

    The community office said that the other operators had to negotiate with China Telecom in order to use the underground channels, which was not a wise method in the eyes of a manager from the Great Wall Broadband Network, also surnamed Li.

    The manager praised the idea of putting cables underground, but said one company should not benefit from the new requirements.

    (Zhang Qian)