Datang ready to launch TD-SCDMA in 2004
November 1, 2002
Datang, one of the developers of TD-SCDMA, said China's homegrown
TD-SCDMA next generation mobile technology standard will be ready
for commercial use in the second half of 2004.
The technology was developed alongside Siemens AG and has been
seen as China's answer to 3G.
Datang plans to spend 300 million yuan this year and another 1
billion yuan in 2003. Much of the funding will come from the government.
If operators in China do choose to build networks based on the
new standard, it would cut the market share of products based on
rival standards, WCDMA and CDMA 2000. Europe has favoured the WCDMA
technology while South Korea and US have backed the CDMA 2000 standard.
Operators such as China's largest mobile operator China Mobile
Communications Corp., are planning to launch 3G services in 2004.
TD-SCDMA is playing catch-up to the two other standards and Datang
is working hard to have the technology mature enough for launch
in 2004. Even so it is not know what all operators in China will
decide to base their networks on the new technology.
The telecom authorities in China has set aside a block of radio
spectrum for TD-SCDMA. WCDMA and CDMA 2000 have each been given
a block of 60 megahertz, while TD-SCDMA got two blocks totaling
55 MHz.
Datang is optimistic that Chinese mobile operators will decide
to use the new technology. "The operators will certainly use TD-SCDMA,
even though today they haven't clearly stated their position," said
Datang President Zhou Huan, but he did admit that TD-SCDMA's development
has lagged behind those of other standards because of its late start.
The government has given its full support to the new standard and
has warned against excessive dependence on foreign technology. But
they have not yet said whether they will force operators to adopt
the technology as part of the 3G license conditions.
Local and foreign telecom players are also interested and preparing
to support the technology in case it is chosen for commercial use.
Texas Instruments and Royal Philips Electronics are developing chipsets
for TD-SCDMA phones, while Siemens will spend 50 million euros for
TD-SCDMA research over the next year.
Datang are in discussion with Qualcomm over licensing agreements
as Qualcomm claims that its original CDMA patents are the basis
of all third-generation mobile standards, including TD-SCDMA.
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3G Motorola A920
