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China Mobile starts 3G in mid 2004
September 23, 2002
Undeterred by Europe's recent retreat from 3G wireless technology,
China Mobile said Monday it is keeping its plan to start offering
3G services in mid 2004.
"We are not postponing. We are still sticking to the schedule,"
Vice-President Li Yue told the 3G Mobile International Summit. He
said the company's timetable calls for regional trials of 3G services
in 2003, followed by the launch of formal commercial services in
2004.
State-owned China Mobile, the parent of China Mobile, is the largest
mobile network operator in the world's largest mobile market, and
as such its decisions are critically important to suppliers of 3G
equipment like Ericsson.
Li cautioned that China Mobile's schedule for the launch of 3G's
high-speed wireless data services, like video phone calls and music
downloads, depends in part on whether suppliers can provide it with
systems that are mature.
He said China Mobile is still planning to use the 3G technology
known as WCDMA which has been chosen by European governments. But
Li said he couldn't rule out the possibility that, under "special
circumstances," China Mobile could choose a rival technology, CDMA2000.
But a bigger worry for China Mobile is finding enough paying customers
for 3G's newfangled services. The company's existing high-speed
data service, based on a technology called GPRS, has some of the
same features as 3G, but Li said subscriber growth hasn't met expectations.
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3G Motorola A920
