China Mobile targets Hong Kong 3G market

January 14, 2007

Shortly after it got 3G license in Macao, China Unicom, the second largest mobile telecom carrier in, now is targeting at the 3G market in Hong Kong, reported by SinoCast.

"If the game is fair, we would like to join the bidding", says Shang Bing, president of China Unicom in an interview, "the destination of more than half of CDMA users that go abroad is Hong Kong, so it is a must for us to maintain a CDMA network."

According to Hong Kong's telecom regulators, the city will hold CDMA 20003G license auction this year.

China Unicom will continue to maintain networks for the GSM and CDMA mobile standards, a company vice president, Li Zhengmao said that contrary to reports that the company will drop one network for cost reasons.

'China Unicom may put in more in operating both networks, but during the upgrade from 2G to 3G, many operators in other countries will run 2G and 3G networks at the same time,' Li said.

Li noted that China Unicom's current GSM network is focused on 2G technology, upgrading to 2.5G, while CDMA networks are at a 2.5G standard with some areas upgrading to 2.75G.