The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) acts as the telecommunications authority in the country and therefore there is no independence from the government in its decision-making process.

The Personal Information Protection Law (Art. 40) provides that critical information infrastructure operators and personal information processors handling personal information must store personal information collected and produced within the borders of China. Where such information needs to be provided abroad, they shall pass a security assessment organized by the State cybersecurity and information department.

China has appended the World Trade Organization (WTO) Telecom Reference Paper to its schedule of commitments.

Telecoms business activities in China are divided into Basic Telecom Services (“BTS”) and Value-added Telecom Services (“VATS”). BTS refers to the business of providing public network infrastructure, public data transmission and basic voice communications services. VATS refers to the telecoms and information services provided through public network infrastructure. Both BTS and VATS operators require a license and VATS licenses are further divided into single province licenses and cross-provincial licenses. A BTS licence is valid for either five or ten years (depending on the type of telecom service involved) and a VATS licence is valid for five years. Telecoms operators must also meet the minimum registered capital requirements in order to be granted licences. For BTS operators, the minimum registered capital is RMB 100 million for single province providers and RMB 1 billion for nationwide providers. For VATS operators, the minimum registered capital is RMB 1 million for single province providers and RMB 10 million for nationwide providers. China also maintains restrictions on VATS services and these restrictions include opaque and arbitrary licensing procedures, foreign equity caps and the unjustified moratoria on the issuance of new licenses. As a result, only a few dozen foreign-invested suppliers have secured licenses to provide value-added telecommunications services, while there are thousands of licensed domestic suppliers.
Additionally, foreign companies must obtain VATS licenses only through a joint-venture company. In this regard, the European Chamber of Commerce in China has complained about the multiple value added services licenses required, suggesting the approval of one single value added service license that allows for the provision of multiple VATS.

Foreign-invested enterprises using their own network platform to provide network services for other parties should apply to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology value-added telecommunications business license; enterprises using their own network platform directly engaged in the sale of goods, should be filed with the telecommunications management department.

China Telecom Corporation Limited (China Telecom), the incumbent, is a wholly State-owned enterprise (SOE) providing basic, mobile and value added telecommunication services.

It is reported that China does not mandate functional or accounting separation for operators with significant market power (SMP) in the telecom market.

According to Art. 6 of the Provisions on Administration of Foreign-Invested Telecommunications Enterprises, for foreign-funded telecommunications enterprises operating value-added telecommunications services (including online database storing and searching; electronic data exchange; online data processing and transactions processing; domestic multiparty communication services; IP-VPN; ISP; ICP and video teleconferencing), the proportion of foreign investors' capital contribution in the enterprise shall not exceed 50% in the end. An exception applies to e-commerce, for which 100% foreign equity and ownership is allowed. Furthermore, the proportion of capital contribution between Chinese investors and foreign investors in foreign-invested telecommunications enterprises in different periods shall be determined by the industry and information technology department of the State Council in accordance with relevant regulations.
In addition, according to Art. 5, if the enterprise is engaged in the value-added telecom business within a province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the Central Government, it shall have a registered capital of not less than 1 million yuan (Approx. USD 137,000). However, if an enterprise is engaged in value-added telecom businesses nationwide or beyond a single province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the Central Government, it shall have a registered capital of not less than 10 million (Approx. USD 1,370,000).
According to Art. 2, a foreign-invested telecommunications enterprise refers to an enterprise operating telecommunications business jointly invested and established by foreign investors and Chinese investors in the form of Sino-foreign joint ventures in accordance with the law within the territory of the People's Republic of China.

According to Art. 6 of the Provisions on Administration of Foreign-Invested Telecommunications Enterprises, the capital contribution ratio of foreign investors in foreign-funded telecommunications enterprises operating basic telecommunications services (excluding wireless paging services) shall not exceed 49% in the end. However, in practice, all telecommunication companies are Chinese. In addition, the proportion of capital contribution between Chinese investors and foreign investors in foreign-invested telecommunications enterprises in different periods shall be determined by the industry and information technology department of the State Council in accordance with relevant regulations.
In addition, according to Art. 5, if the enterprise is engaged in the basic telecom business within a province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the Central Government, it shall have a registered capital of not less than 100 million yuan (Approx. USD 14,000,000). However, if the enterprise is engaged in the basic telecom business nationwide or beyond a single province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the Central Government, it shall have a registered capital of not less than 1 billion yuan (Approx. USD 140,000,000).
Under the Special Management Measures for Foreign Investment Access (Negative List) 2020, authorities must treat foreign investors with the same degree of accommodation as domestic investors unless set out otherwise in the negative list. While no caps have been set out in the negative list with regard to basic telecommunication services, the negative list provides that the basic telecommunication business must be controlled by the Chinese party.

It is reported that there is an obligation for passive infrastructure sharing in China to deliver telecom services to end users, and it is practiced in the mobile sector and in the fixed sector based on commercial agreements.

According to Art. 25 of the Chinese government’s 2015 National Security Law, all information systems in China must be "secure and controllable". It is reported that every company operating in China – whether domestic or foreign – is required to provide the Chinese government with access to its source code, encryption keys, and backdoor access to their computer networks in China.

China lacks a comprehensive framework in place that provides effective protection of trade secrets, but there are limited measures addressing some issues related to them namely: Anti-Unfair Competition Law (revised in 2019); the Civil Code (effective in 2021), the Civil Procedure Law (revised in 2017); the Labour Law (revised in 2018); and the Criminal Law (revised in 2015). According to the Anti-Unfair Competition Law: trade secrets refer to any technical information, operational information or commercial information, which is not known to the public and has commercial value, and for which its infringer adopted measures to ensure its confidentiality.
In addition, it is reported that stakeholders have welcomed the latest revision of the Criminal Law and the continuing implementation of previously issued judicial interpretations as positive developments. In particular, stakeholders noted stronger procedural protections for right holders and broader definitions of misappropriation.

China has ratified the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Copyright Treaty.

China has ratified the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Performances and Phonograms Treaty.

It is reported that China has high levels of online piracy and lacks effective enforcement. Moreover, China continues to be the largest origin economy for counterfeit and pirated goods, accounting (together with Hong Kong) for more than 85% of global seizures of counterfeit goods from 2017 to 2019. In addition, it is reported that the rate of unlicensed software installation in the country was 66% in 2017 (above the 57% rate of the Asian Pacific countries), for an estimated commercial value of USD 6,842 million.