China is considering plans to merge up to six of its telecoms carriers at parent level to resolve its long-delayed third-generation (3G) mobile-licensing program, state media said Tuesday.

The State Council and the state-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC)–the controlling shareholders of China's telecoms groups–were reviewing two proposals, Beijing News said. In one, China Mobile Communications Group would be merged with fixed-line operator China Network Communications Group and China Telecommunications Group with China United Telecommunications Group. The other plan involves merging China Mobile with China Satellite Communications, China Network with China United and China Telecommunications with China Railway Communications, the report said.

China Mobile recently denied the merger plan, saying the company had not been informed of the proposal.