Hou Yibin, a National People's Congress (NPC) deputy and vice president of the Beijing University of Technology, says an expected Telecom Law is unlikely to be drafted and approved this year.

Hou made the remarks to local media during this week's Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPC) in Beijing.

Although the Telecom Law has been listed on the legislation schedule for this year's NPC, it is unlikely to be approved because of limited time and resources devoted to analyzing the legislation.

Hou says if the State Council can submit a draft of the Telecom Law to the Standing Committee of the NPC by June, the latter will review it as soon as possible and hopefully approve it this year. But in consideration of the time needed for the review–at least six months–there is still difficulty for the law to be formally issued by the end of 2005.