Shares in local telecom firms jumped yesterday on a report the
State Council had approved a plan to launch 3G services, which
analysts and officials said could be a misinterpretation.
China Unicom, the nation's second largest mobile carrier, closed
at 12.29 yuan in Shanghai yesterday, up 8.82 percent. ZTE Corp, the
nation's second biggest phone-equipment maker, gained 4.39 yuan, or
7.4 percent, to 63.69 yuan.
The rise is seen as a response to an earlier Xinhua News Agency
report that the State Council had approved the proposal to start
"preparation for the next-generation broadband wireless mobile
communications technology". The article triggered speculation that
China would begin its launch of the long-awaited 3G mobile
services.
"It's a misinterpretation," said Wang Lijian, division chief of
the Ministry of Information Industry's news department. "The
technology mentioned by the State Council has no direct link with
3G services and won't affect the progress of its commercial
deployment." Wang didn't give a timetable for the launch of 3G
services.
According to Wang, "broadband wireless mobile communications
technology" was first raised in 2006 as a research project for the
nation's long-term science and technology development. The
technology is expected to have a transmission capacity of 50 to 100
times the current 3G technologies.
The high-speed 3G technology allows users to hold
videoconferences and offers faster Internet downloads.
The government is trying to boost the development of its
homegrown 3G standard TD-SCDMA, which is being tested in 10 cities.
Rival standards WCDMA and CDMA2000 are already in use in other
countries.
China Mobile Communications, which owns 74 percent of Hong
Kong-listed China Mobile Ltd, is now building its TD-SCDMA network
in eight cities, including Beijing and Guangzhou. The parent
companies of fixed-line operators China Telecom Corp and China
Netcom Group Corp are also building TD-SCDMA networks.
The TD-SCDMA network in the 10 cities will serve 50 million
customers, Wang Jing, TD-SCDMA Forum secretary-general, said
earlier.
The 3G mobile-phone network might be introduced for commercial
tests by users at the end of the first quarter of 2008, Wang was
quoted as saying.
(China Daily December 28, 2007)
