The service items provided by most of China's ISP's are similar, their information services are not perfect, and in some cases seriously deficient. Furthermore, bandwidth for users is too slow. Various ISP's begin to speed up constructing their own information platforms with richer information sources in order to attract more users. Some strong ISP's are providing schemes for system integration for business customers. The ISP's cannot meet user needs for increasing bandwidth or offer good service unless they possesses ample financial and technical capacity.
Western partners can provide both.
Along with the construction of the large scale information highway and the development of Internet, the ISP market will develop rapidly. Although ISP's are mostly non-profitable, this is considered temporary and we feel that the future of the ISP market is excellent, although we expect a shakeout in this area by the middle of 1997. Some ISP's whose service is poor will merge or disappear. A market monopolized by several large-size companies will be gradually formed, and ISP revenues will then grow rapidly.