Qualcomm Inc (QCOM)

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China in final phase leading up to 3G launch - official
05.26.2005, 11:01 PM

http://www.forbes.com/technology/feeds/afx/2005/05/26/afx2060306.html

BEIJING (AFX) - China is in the final phase of review and testing as it prepares to launch third generation (3G) wireless telecommunications services, Wen Ku, director of the Sciences Department of the Ministry of Information Industry (MII) said.

'China has done very well in the standardization of 3G technologies, and (preparations have gone well in) both TD-SCDMA and WCDMA,' Wen said at a wireless telecom summit in Beijing.

He did not say when China will issue its first 3G license.

TD-SCDMA, China's home-grown 3G standard, has made great progress in developing systems, terminals, services, chips, standards and an environment for testing, Wen said.

'Domestic companies and research institutes have built a sound industry chain, with five companies working on chips, four working on system tests and many types of terminal products being launched,' the MII official said.

Wen added that all parties involved still need to improve terminal products and handsets.

Site selection of 3G base stations will also be a problem, he said.

'How to efficiently take advantage of the existing telecom networks and base stations is a relatively big obstacle.'

Earlier at the summit, Deng Shoupeng, ex-director of the State Council's Development and Research Center, suggested that China should grant three 3G licenses next year, one for each of the major standards - TD-SCDMA, European-backed WCDMA and Qualcomm Inc-developed CDMA2000.

'Telecom operators should compete for the licenses. The market and the operator, instead of the government, should decide how the three licenses work together,' Deng said.

China, the world's largest mobile handset market with a total of 353.71 mln mobile phone users at the end of last month, has been testing the standards since June 2001.

Beijing is believed to have been waiting for the domestically-developed TD-SCDMA to reach commercial maturity before granting any 3G licenses.

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