The Chinese government will very likely issue 3G licenses in April or May next year, officially introducing 3G services to the world's largest mobile communication market, a senior researcher with the State-owned Asset Supervision and Administration Commission said.
"Although it is still possible for 3G licenses to arrive before the Chinese New Year, February 18, April or May will be a more appropriate time for the release," Lu Qijun, vice director of the SASAC's New Industry Research Department said.
The SASAC is the administrator of all state-owned companies in China and is the majority shareholder of China Mobile, China Unicom, China Telecom, and China Netcom.
According to Lu, it is still uncertain what 3G standards each operator is going to use, and said that the restructuring of Chinese telecom operators is still uncertain. "Things are still hard to pin down at the current stage," Lu said.
Wang Xudong, China's Minister of Information Industry, said early this month during the ITU Telecom World 2006 that the Chinese government will issue 3G licenses "very soon." Although Wang did not provide a detailed timetable, it is widely believed that 3G licenses will arrive in early 2007 because China has promised to provide 3G services during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
At present, WCDMA, CDMA 2000 and China's self-developed TD-SCDMA are the three potential 3G standards for China. TD-SCDMA, as a homegrown standard, has secured extended financial and policy support from the Chinese government, while the future of Qualcomm's CDMA 2000 and the European WCDMA remain uncertain in China.
The American government and the European Union, which represent the interests of CDMA 2000 and WCDMA, have been urging the Chinese government to be independent and non-biased when choosing 3G standards.
On December 11, the five-year anniversary of China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), China Vice Minister of Information Technology Jiang Yaoping told reporters that China will conform to WTO commitments, support all the three standards, and let the operators make their own decisions.
However, it is widely believed that the Chinese government halted the 3G license release because its TD-SCDMA standard is less mature and not entirely ready for commercial use.
Source:佚名