China has no 3G timetable

THE MOBILE industry is still on tenterhooks after a senior Chinese official, Lou Qinjian - vice minister for the information industry - told Reuters the government still wasn't ready to award licences.

Lou was discussing what kind of broadband wireless access might be provided for those attending the forthcoming Olympic games.
He said that adopting 3G technology for the Olympics is very different from awarding 3G licenses, "for which we have set no detailed timetable."

Naturally the ideal situation would be to utilise China's homegrown version of 3G which is TD-SCDMA. Sadly that probably won't be ready in time.

"TD-SCDMA is still undergoing massive tests. If it cannot make it for the Olympics, we have other choices," Lou revealed.

He hinted that W-CDMA or even EDGE might be a possibility as would Wimax, of course. The most likely scenario would be to use multiple technologies.

Explaining why no move has been made on those 3G licences, Lou blamed structural problems in China's regulatory system, risks in the technology's commercial viability and different development levels in the vast country.

There was one ray of hope for overseas 3G equipment vendors, Lou said his ministry would remain neutral and permit operators to choose from the three 3G standards according to "market principles and their own needs".

Some vendors are better placed than others, of course. Siemens has always had a strong association with TD-SCDMA and actually helped to found the TD-SCDMA Forum.

Which might prove to be good news since the new joint venture - Nokia Siemens Networks - recently lost €3.67 billion. So new business from China would prove very handy indeed. µ

L'INQ
www.tdscdma-forum.org