Saturday, January 3, 2009

China Unicom chairman: "golden time" for 3G services

BEIJING, Jan. 3 (Chinese media) -- Development of China's

third-generation (3G) mobile telecommunications network service will enter a

"golden time" despite the gloomy industrial situation worldwide, China Unicom

Chairman Chang Xiaobing said in a published article.



"Although the world economy is undergoing a tough

time amid the widespread financial crisis, and the telecommunications industry

faces great uncertainty, China's telecom carriers still expect vast

opportunities," Chang said in an article in Caijing magazine's latest yearbook.

Diversified customer demand would lead expansion of

such services, including faster data downloads, allowing cell phone users to

make video calls and watch TV programs, he noted.

More opportunities and competition will emerge after

telecom operators receive 3G licenses from the Ministry of Industry and

Information Technology (MIIT), according to Chang.

The top three telecom companies are expected to

receive 3G licenses soon. China Mobile will use TD-SCDMA (Time Division

Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access), while China Unicom and China Telecom

will use Europe's WCDMA and North America's CDMA 2000, respectively.

MIIT head Li Yizhong confirmed that the government

would give "strong support" to promote the domestic TD-SCDMA standard. Relevant

departments were asked to enhance industrialization of core chips, terminals and

test equipment as well as to expand network coverage.

China will invest 280 billion yuan (41 billion U.S.

dollars) to develop the 3G mobile telecommunications network over the next two

years.

China has the biggest telecom network worldwide, with

977 million phone users as of September, including 624 million cell phone users

and 353 million fixed phone customers. There were 253 million people online at

the same time.

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