Qualcomm Inc (QCOM)

[khemara_qc]

Huge opportunities for wireless suppliers at Beijing Olympics
22 MARCH 2006

http://dataweek.co.za/article.asp?pklArticleId=3852&pklIssueId=546&pklCategoryId=42

Beijing, China, will be the home of the 2008 Summer Olympics, and already, over two years prior, this event is being considered as a huge business opportunity for both foreign and domestic enterprises.

According to electronics industry research firm Databeans, Beijing itself has pledged to invest over $23 bn toward preparation for the Games; and at least 15% of the budget will be spent on information technologies. Plans for new technological infrastructure include fibre-optic networks, HDTV digital network, and of course, the already large Chinese mobile communications network will need to be expanded.

China's Ministry of Information Industry announced earlier this year that TD-SCDMA would be the country's 'official' 3G standard for wireless communications. According to Databeans, with TD-SCDMA (time division-synchronous code division multiple access), China is attempting to free itself from dependency upon the other 3G standards coming from the West. However, TD-SCDMA on its own will likely not be enough to support the needs of the international community present at the Olympic Games. Other networks based upon the more popular 3G standards like WCDMA and CDMA2000 need to be built as well. Later this year, the Chinese government will likely be granting licences to all three of the standards.

For now, Siemens has already invested over $200m in TD-SCDMA, with Nokia also contributing, and investing over $100m, says the research firm. And several other major vendors are also involved, such as Motorola and Nortel. Siemens in particular hopes to gain large profits from the domestic wireless operators. Companies are investing now, anticipating the Olympics, but also see the opportunities for business that will undoubtedly be there after the Games have been completed.

According to Databeans' estimates, Asia Pacific is the number one region for cellphones in the world, contributing over 250 million units shipped to a world total of 805 million for 2006. For 2008, the year that the Games come to Beijing, Databeans expects worldwide cellphone shipments to exceed 1 billion units for the first time.