China's Cabinet appointed new heads for the Big Three telecommunication carriers on Monday, triggering speculation that long-awaited reform of the sector may be on the way.

Shang Bing, former vice-minister of telecom watchdog the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, took over China Mobile Ltd, while Xi Guohua, its former head, is retiring, the company said.

The smaller China Telecom Corp Ltd and China Unicom Ltd, saw their chairmen - Wang Xiaochu and Chang Xiaobing - swap places, according to the companies.