China Mobile Ltd has announced the commercial deployment of TD-SCDMA technology in China beginning in April, according to wireless baseband chipset provider Spreadtrum Communications Inc.

TD-SCDMA is a 3G wireless network standard developed by the China Academy of Telecommunications Technology (CATT) in collaboration with Datang and Siemens and endorsed by the Chinese government.

Ping Wu, chairman and CEO of Spreadtrum, said, "We are very excited with this key development in the commercialization and deployment of TD-SCDMA technology in China. Our friends, customers, and partners are also extremely pleased to see TD-SCDMA technology reach this milestone. Today's announcement demonstrates China Mobile's strong commitment to commercialize the TD-SCDMA technology and includes a host of measures to facilitate market acceptance of this technology including attractively priced calling plans, availability of six subsidized handset models, availability of USIM cards for consumers who purchase TD-SCDMA handsets through other channels, demo centers in eight cities, financial incentives for resellers, publicity campaigns, and after-sale customer support.

Use of Spreadtrum chips
Wu added that "We are pleased to see that two of our customers received over 50 percent of the initial round of 60,000 handset order from China Mobile in January. As additional handset orders are placed in future rounds, we believe our portfolio of TD-SCDMA products and support will enable our customers to continue to benefit from these upcoming deployments."

Spreadtrum developed the first single-chip dual-mode TD-SCDMA/GSM baseband, the SC8800D, in 2004 and the first multi-mode HSDPA/TD-SCDMA/GSM/GPRS baseband, the SC8800H, in 2007. The company also offers the single-chip SC8800S TD-SCDMA/HSDPA solution optimized for data cards and its Quorum subsidiary announced a TD-SCDMA/GSM/GPRS/EDGE RF transceiver. Spreadtrum's TD-SCDMA solutions have also been used in the commercial products that provide MBMS support and the TD-SCDMA USB modem cards.