China Telecom said its president and chief operating officer, Shang Bing, resigned Wednesday to become a vice minister at China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
Shang, a senior economist, joined the Hong Kong-listed arm from China Unicom in 2008 as part of the telecom industry restructure.
Shang, 56, was appointed as president and executive director of China Unicom in 2004 as a result of management reshuffle in the Chinese telecom carriers.
A spokesman at China Telecom said the company “will study and decide on the issue of replacement [for Shang] in due course.”
The move is the latest management change in the Chinese telecom sector.
Rival China Mobile announced late June that Xi Guohua, the vice minister at MIIT, has taken up the position of vice chairman and secretary of the Communist Party committee at the mobile carrier’s parent company, China Mobile Communications Ltd. China Mobile Wang Jianzhou remains chairman of the parent company but has stepped down as secretary of the Communist Party committee.
The MIIT also confirmed the appointment of Shang and the resignation of Xi as vice minister.
In late May, mainland news wire Caijing cited a source as saying that Xi would soon leave his position to become chairman of China Mobile, and Shang would be named an MIIT vice minister. It also reported that China Telecom chairman Wang Xiaochu will become the governor of China's Yunnan province, to be replaced by current China Unicom chairman Chang Xiaobing.
China Telecom spokesman said the news report about Wang’s appointment “is unfounded and the company has not received any notice in this connection.”