China to make 3G decision this year

August 9, 2004

China's Ministry of Information Industry (MII) will announce details regarding the awarding of 3G licenses later in the year, an unnamed official has said. The official told Xinhua the MII give details on how many 3G licenses it will offer, the timetable, the issuing process and to whom the licenses would be awarded.

The ministry has arrived at a primary decision already, which will be finalized some time later in the year. The draft plan has to go over several procedures and require the approval of senior ministry officials before it becomes final.

China is the worlds biggest mobile phone market, with more than 300 million subscribers. Foreign equipment makers are keen to get a slice of the 3G action as it would lead to contracts worth billions of dollars.

The development of China's own 3G technology, TD-SCDMA, has delayed the awarding of 3G licenses in the country. More time is still need for the new technology to mature but experts believe further delay to the introduction of 3G services could hurt the mobile phone market in China.

China has been conducting trials of all three 3G technologies - WCDMA, CDMA2000 and TD-SCDMA - and is expected to finish later this year.

Some speculations suggest that three or four operators would be awarded 3G licenses and that at least one of them would be deploying TD-SCDMA networks. The government is also believed to be looking into merger plans between some operators so as to avoid competition and award only two 3G licenses.