Third-generation (3G) mobile telecoms have been given a definite development timetable for the first time in China.

"In collaboration with related government sectors, we are to make suggestions for the development at an appropriate time this year," Minister of Information Industry Wang Xudong said yesterday.

Wang said at a working conference in Beijing the market will be supported with improved supervision, reforms, a fairer environment and a stronger industrial chain.

The minister's remarks "conveyed a good message to both telecom operators and equipment providers as China is to accelerate its 3G development strategies," said Chen Jinqiao, director of the ministry's China Academy of Telecommunications Research.

Despite increasing demand for 3G development, the Chinese government has long been treading carefully.

But it is no longer able to ignore the overwhelming potential in the Chinese market, which is drawing attention from telecommunications companies worldwide.

"We will see an increasing investment in all 3G-related areas as the policy becomes clearer," he said.

Compared to the existing mobile services, which mainly focus on voice business, 3G offers multimedia services, mobile television, mobile banking and location-based services.

There are three 3G standards acknowledged by the International Telecommunication Union: Europe's Wideband CDMA (WCDMA); the Qualcomm-based CDMA 2000 of the US; and China's Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA).

The launch of 3G will bring new opportunities to equipment and mobile handset suppliers.

It will also be good news for fixed-line operators, especially China Telecom and China Netcom, as it will enable them to enter the lucrative mobile market.

"As evidenced by 3G uptake in the US, South Korea, Japan and now western Europe, we believe 3G will benefit Chinese telecom carriers, equipment vendors, application developers and ultimately, consumers," said Wang Jing, senior vice president and chairman of Qualcomm Greater China.

It will provide more opportunities for Chinese companies to expand internationally.

CDMA 2000 and WCDMA are already well established and growing, registering more than 140 million subscribers so far by 113 operators in 50 countries.

"We are quite confident that the TD-SCDMA system will be commercialized in June this year," said an anonymous executive whose company is a member of the TD-SCDMA alliance.

He said more than 10 handsets supporting the TD-SCDMA system would be launched in June.

The Ministry of Information Industry estimates that the country's telecom and postal sectors will post sales of 977.0 billion yuan (US$117.7 billion) for 2004, accounting for 7.5 percent of the nation's gross domestic product. It expects the figure to climb to 1.2 trillion yuan (US$137.9 billion) this year.

Telecom revenue is expected to reach 520.5 billion yuan (US$62.7 billion), up 13 percent from the previous year.

(China Daily January 13, 2005)