Services Opening After the National Services Conference: Foreign-Invested Value-Added Telecom Pilots Reach 221
- In early April 2026 China convened a National Services Conference; afterwards the National Development and Reform Commission, working with 40 departments, set out 131 priority tasks for 2026 and 2027.
2026年4月初，中国召开全国服务业大会；会后国家发展改革委会同40个部门，梳理确定2026、2027两年131项重点任务。
- Within half a year departments had issued 81 supporting measures, more than sixty per cent of the priority work showed clear progress, and 27 provinces had held their own provincial services conferences.
半年内，有关部门已出台81项配套举措，超六成重点工作取得明显进展，全国已有27个省份召开省级服务业大会。
- New foreign-invested value-added telecom business pilots rose by 91 to a total of 221, after the first batch was launched in February 2025.
新增外资企业增值电信业务经营试点91家，总数达221家；首批试点于2025年2月启动。
- In the first half of 2026 services contributed 66.1 per cent of China’s economic growth, up 5.9 percentage points year on year, and the services business activity expectation index has stayed above 55 per cent for five consecutive months since April.
2026年上半年，服务业对中国经济增长的贡献率达66.1%，较上年同期提高5.9个百分点；4月以来服务业业务活动预期指数连续5个月在55%以上。
- In the first seven months of 2026 spending in China by overseas visitors rose 27.8 per cent year on year and services exports rose 17.1 per cent, narrowing the services trade deficit by about 16 per cent.
2026年前7个月，境外人员在华消费同比增长27.8%，服务出口同比增长17.1%，带动服务贸易逆差收窄约16%。
- Services now account for about seventy per cent of foreign investment actually used, according to Wang Ya of the Ministry of Commerce’s foreign investment administration.
据商务部外国投资管理司负责人王亚介绍，服务业在实际使用外资中的比重已达七成。
- The opening programme rests on three tracks — widening market access, guiding foreign investment into producer and modern services, and pilot demonstration — including removing foreign equity caps on app stores and internet access in telecom, supporting international factoring, and encouraging cross-border settlement through the multilateral central bank digital currency bridge and digital RMB channels.
开放部署有三大方向：放宽市场准入、引导外资投向生产性服务业和现代服务业、试点示范；其中包括电信领域取消应用商店、互联网接入等服务业务外资股比限制，支持探索国际保理业务，鼓励依托多边央行数字货币桥和数字人民币双边跨境业务渠道开展跨境贸易和投融资结算。
Services Opening After the National Services Conference: Foreign-Invested Value-Added Telecom Pilots Reach 221 | 全国服务业大会后服务业扩大开放：外资增值电信试点增至221家
Overview
At a special press conference in late September 2026, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) set out the progress of China’s drive to expand and upgrade services. The account begins with a National Services Conference held in early April 2026 and runs through the measures taken since. For foreign investors, the headline number is the growth of the foreign-invested value-added telecom business pilot, which has risen to 221 enterprises.
The press conference is a stock-take rather than a new rule. Its value lies in the official data it supplies: how many priority tasks have been set, how many supporting measures have followed, how many provinces have convened their own conferences, and how the services sector has performed. Together these figures describe the operating environment into which foreign-invested services businesses are being invited.
This note sets out the national push, the telecom pilot numbers, the macroeconomic picture, the three tracks of opening, and the practical points a foreign investor would weigh. It deals with services opening and does not cover the separate cash-pooling or manufacturing regimes.
The national push: conference, tasks and supporting measures
The sequence starts with the National Services Conference in early April 2026. After the conference, the NDRC, working with 40 departments, identified 131 priority tasks covering the two years 2026 and 2027. The task list is the organising device: it turns the conference’s direction into a set of time-bound items owned by named departments.
Within half a year, departments had issued 81 supporting measures, and more than sixty per cent of the priority work showed clear progress. At the provincial level, 27 provinces had convened their own services conferences, which is a signal that the agenda is being carried down rather than left at the centre.
For a foreign-invested services business, the structure matters as much as the numbers. A task list with named owners and supporting measures is the machinery through which access commitments reach the level at which licences and approvals are actually handled.
Foreign-invested value-added telecom pilots reach 221
The most concrete indicator for foreign investors is the value-added telecom business pilot. The first batch was launched in February 2025. Since then, 91 new foreign-invested enterprises have been added, bringing the total to 221.
Value-added telecom services are the layer of the telecom market above basic carriage — services such as app stores, internet access and related offerings. Because telecom has historically been a sector with foreign equity restrictions, the pilot is the route through which foreign-invested participation is tested. The growth from the first batch to 221 enterprises is the clearest official measure of how that route has been used.
Services as the main growth engine
The press conference also supplied the macroeconomic backdrop.
In the first half of 2026, services contributed 66.1 per cent of China’s economic growth, up 5.9 percentage points on the same period a year earlier. Since April, the services business activity expectation index has stayed above 55 per cent for five consecutive months — a level that indicates expansion in the sector’s own expectations.
Cross-border services tell a similar story. In the first seven months of 2026, spending in China by overseas visitors rose 27.8 per cent year on year, and China’s services exports rose 17.1 per cent. The two flows together narrowed the services trade deficit by about 16 per cent.
For foreign investment, the sector’s weight is direct: according to Wang Ya of the Ministry of Commerce’s foreign investment administration, services now account for about seventy per cent of foreign investment actually used. In other words, services is no longer a marginal category in inbound investment but the dominant one.
Three tracks of opening
The opening programme is described as resting on three tracks.
Widening market access. Since 2024, pilots to expand opening have been run in selected regions in three fields: cloud computing, wholly foreign-owned hospitals, and biotechnology. The plan is to steadily expand opening pilots in vocational skills training institutions, vocational colleges, and high-level science, engineering, agriculture and medical universities. Foreign institutions are to be supported in using treasury bond futures and other risk-management tools, and in lawfully conducting fund investment advisory business.
Guiding the direction of foreign investment. Foreign investment is to be guided toward producer services and modern services. The Catalogue of Industries for Encouraging Foreign Investment is to be revised and reissued. The tax exemption on imported research supplies for foreign-invested research and development centres is to be continued. Functional institutions such as regional headquarters and R&D centres are to be attracted.
Pilot demonstration. Since 2025, nine new cities have been added to the comprehensive pilot for expanded services opening. In telecom, the foreign equity caps on app stores, internet access and similar services have been removed. In healthcare, foreign doctors are supported in opening clinics, and overseas medical professionals in short-term practice. In finance, international factoring is to be explored, and cross-border trade and investment settlement is encouraged through the multilateral central bank digital currency bridge and digital RMB bilateral cross-border channels.
Alongside these, technology business incubators were for the first time graded as excellent-class or standard-class, and a first list of 416 was published. The first national platform for foreign-related legal services is being built.
Practical implications for foreign investors
Three practical points follow.
First, telecom is worth a fresh look. With foreign equity caps removed on app stores, internet access and similar services, and with 221 enterprises already in the pilot, a foreign-invested digital or e-commerce business that had assumed telecom was closed to it may find a route through the pilot.
Second, the direction of encouragement is now explicit. Producer services and modern services are named as the target, the encouraging catalogue is being revised, and the R&D-centre import exemption is being continued. A group planning a regional headquarters or a research centre has a clearer picture of where policy support points.
Third, the settlement and risk-management toolkit is widening. Support for using treasury bond futures, for fund investment advisory, and for cross-border settlement via the digital currency bridge and digital RMB channels expands what a foreign-invested financial or services entity can do onshore.
A foreign-invested services group considering China would typically map its activity against the three tracks: whether its sector has an access pilot, whether it fits the encouraged direction, and whether it can use the financial tools now on offer. The figures from the press conference — 221 telecom pilots, 66.1 per cent growth contribution, seventy per cent of inbound investment — are the official markers of how far that opening has already run.
Sources
- 证券时报 — 国家发展改革委专题新闻发布会介绍服务业扩能提质进展: https://www.stcn.com/article/detail/4202097.html
- 中新社 — 全国服务业大会以来服务业扩大开放进展报道: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7690849308291154472/
- 南方都市报 — 外资企业增值电信业务经营试点增至221家报道: https://www.163.com/dy/article/L807V6N105129QAF.html
- 金融界 — 服务业扩能提质新闻发布会数据报道: https://www.163.com/dy/article/L8042FLD0519QIKK.html
- 商务部 — 政策发布栏目: https://www.mofcom.gov.cn/zcfb/
全国服务业大会后服务业扩大开放：外资增值电信试点增至221家
概述
在2026年9月下旬的一场专题新闻发布会上，国家发展改革委介绍了中国推动服务业扩能提质的进展。介绍从2026年4月初召开的全国服务业大会开始，延伸至此后采取的举措。对来华投资者而言，最醒目的数字是外资企业增值电信业务经营试点的增长——总数已达221家。
这场发布会是一次阶段性盘点，而非出台新规则。其价值在于提供了官方数据：确定了多少项重点任务、随后出台了多少项配套举措、有多少省份召开了省级服务业大会，以及服务业的表现如何。这些数据共同描述了外资服务企业被邀请进入的经营环境。
本文梳理国家层面的推动、电信试点的数字、宏观表现、三大开放方向，以及来华投资者会权衡的实务要点。本文只涉及服务业开放，不涉及跨境资金池或制造业等其他制度安排。
国家层面的推动：大会、任务与配套举措
这一进程从2026年4月初的全国服务业大会开始。会后，国家发展改革委会同40个部门，梳理确定了覆盖2026、2027两年的131项重点任务。任务清单是组织装置：它把大会的方向转化为由具体部门负责、有明确时限的事项。
半年内，有关部门已出台81项配套举措，超六成重点工作取得明显进展。在省级层面，全国已有27个省份召开省级服务业大会，这一信号说明议程正在向下传导，而不是停留在中央层面。
对在华外资服务企业而言，结构与数字同样重要。一份有明确责任主体、有配套举措支撑的任务清单，正是准入承诺传导至许可证与审批实际办理层级的机制。
外资增值电信业务经营试点增至221家
对来华投资者而言最具体的指标，是增值电信业务经营试点。首批试点于2025年2月启动。此后新增外资企业91家，总数达到221家。
增值电信服务是电信市场在基础承载之上的一层业务，包括应用商店、互联网接入以及相关服务。由于电信历来是设有外资股比限制的领域，试点是测试外资参与的一条路径。从首批到221家企业，是官方衡量这条路径使用情况的最清晰指标。
服务业是主要增长引擎
发布会还提供了宏观背景。
2026年上半年，服务业对中国经济增长的贡献率达66.1%，较上年同期提高5.9个百分点。自4月以来，服务业业务活动预期指数连续5个月在55%以上——这一水平表明该行业自身预期处于扩张区间。
跨境服务也呈现相似图景。2026年前7个月，境外人员在华消费同比增长27.8%，中国服务出口同比增长17.1%。两项流量共同带动服务贸易逆差收窄约16%。
对外资而言，该行业的权重是直接的：据商务部外国投资管理司负责人王亚介绍，服务业在实际使用外资中的比重已达七成。换言之，服务业在来华投资中已不再是边缘类别，而是占据主导。
三大开放方向
开放部署被概括为三大方向。
放宽市场准入。 2024年以来，已在部分地区率先开展云计算、独资医院、生物技术3个领域的扩大开放试点。下一步将稳步扩大在职业技能培训机构、职业院校、高水平理工农医类大学的对外开放试点。支持更多外资机构利用国债期货等风险管理工具，依法开展基金投资顾问业务。
引导外资投向。 引导外资投向生产性服务业和现代服务业。修订出台新版《鼓励外商投资产业目录》。延续外资研发中心进口科研用品免税政策。吸引地区总部、研发中心等功能性机构。
试点示范。 2025年以来，新增9个服务业扩大开放综合试点城市。电信领域取消应用商店、互联网接入等服务业务的外资股比限制。医疗领域支持外籍医生开设诊所、境外医疗专业技术人员短期执业。金融领域支持探索国际保理业务，鼓励依托多边央行数字货币桥和数字人民币双边跨境业务渠道开展跨境贸易和投融资结算。
除上述部署之外，科技企业孵化器首次分为卓越级、标准级认定，并发布第一批416家名单。首个全国性涉外法律服务平台正在建设。
对来华投资者的实务含义
有三点实务含义。
其一，电信领域值得重新审视。随着应用商店、互联网接入等服务业务的外资股比限制被取消，且试点已有221家企业，一家此前认为电信领域对其关闭的外资数字或电商企业，可能通过试点找到路径。
其二，鼓励方向已经明确。生产性服务业和现代服务业被列为目标，鼓励目录正在修订，研发中心进口免税政策延续。一家规划地区总部或研发中心的集团，对政策支持的落点有了更清晰的判断。
其三，结算与风险管理工具箱在扩大。支持使用国债期货、支持基金投资顾问业务、鼓励依托数字货币桥与数字人民币渠道开展跨境结算，都扩展了在华外资金融或服务主体可以开展的业务范围。
一家考虑进入中国的外资服务集团，通常会把自己的业务与三大方向逐一对照：所在领域是否有准入试点、是否符合鼓励方向、能否使用现有金融工具。发布会给出的数字——221家电信试点、66.1%的增长贡献率、七成的来华投资占比——是衡量开放已推进到何种程度的官方标记。
来源
- 证券时报 — 国家发展改革委专题新闻发布会介绍服务业扩能提质进展: https://www.stcn.com/article/detail/4202097.html
- 中新社 — 全国服务业大会以来服务业扩大开放进展报道: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7690849308291154472/
- 南方都市报 — 外资企业增值电信业务经营试点增至221家报道: https://www.163.com/dy/article/L807V6N105129QAF.html
- 金融界 — 服务业扩能提质新闻发布会数据报道: https://www.163.com/dy/article/L8042FLD0519QIKK.html
- 商务部 — 政策发布栏目: https://www.mofcom.gov.cn/zcfb/