InterDigital Inc (IDCC)

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China Fast-Tracks 3G Licences Push for Cell Phone Firms


Feb 07, 2003 (Evening Standard - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News via
COMTEX) -- The Chinese government has announced plans to distribute 3G licences
as early as this year.

It plans to approve licences for TD-SCDMA, an original communications standard
developed in China, as well as the WCDMA system used by Vodafone and cdma2000
standard, most common in Japan.

The approval is expected to trigger a total of more than UKpound 5.7 billion in
capital spending to develop the required infrastructure.

The move will mean a windfall for communications equipment manufacturers as they
clamour to supply the world's largest mobile phone market.

Four firms are in the running for the licences. Besides existing cellphone
service providers China Mobile and China Unicom, two fixed-line carriers --
China Telecommunications and China Netcom -- are also expected to be included to
stimulate competition and promote lower prices.Licensees will choose from one of
the three standards. The Chinese market caters to more than 200 million
cellphone users.


To see more of the Evening Standard, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk

UKpound preceding a numeral refers to the United Kingdom's pound sterling.
(c) 2003, Evening Standard, London. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune
Business News.

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(Wall Street)