China’s Skyworth Digital Holdings, a Shenzhen-based television maker, has obtained a licence from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) to officially manufacture mobile handsets. This would allow the company to sell handsets under its own brand, Skyworth. NDRC has also granted licences to Inventec Appliances, Acer Communications & Multimedia Technology and Shenzhen Gionee Communication Equipment for manufacturing handsets. Most Chinese handset makers, including Skyworth, produced mobile handsets with other companies’ brands by leasing licences from their rivals over the past six years because the MII had very tight controls over licences to protect domestic development.
In February, the NDRC announced that China’s mobile phone equipment makers need to apply only to the NDRC for production licences, relegating the MII to an advisory role.
