CHINA Mobile Communications Corp., which controls the world's largest wireless operator by users, has invited bids for contracts worth as much as 24 billion yuan (US$3.1 billion) to build China's first high-speed phone network.　

The company asked equipment makers such as Nokia Oyj and Ericsson AB to submit bids for the network, estimated to be worth 20 billion yuan, based on a homegrown standard, Chen Haofei, industry group TD-SCDMA Forum's secretary general, said yesterday. Beijing-based China Mobile will spend 4 billion yuan on subsidies for third-generation, or 3G, handsets, he said.

The orders provide some guidance on the issuance of 3G licenses in China, whose government has yet to say when it will award the permits. The winner will build the network based on the locally developed time division synchronous code division multiple access, or TD-SCDMA, standard that needs to be completed by October for a commercial trial of the technology, Chen said.

"Given that the license will only be awarded after the trials, it looks like the issuance may be pushed to early 2008," said Francis Cheung, an analyst at CLSA Ltd. in Hong Kong. "The government likely wants to ensure success of a homegrown technology, and this would require the support of a strong operator like China Mobile."

In January last year, the government selected TD-SCDMA as a 3G standard and said it is considering the other two technologies, Wideband CDMA and CDMA-2000.

The TD-SCDMA Forum was formed in December 2000 by eight companies to promote and develop the use of the technology. They are China Mobile, China United Telecommunications Corp., China Telecommunications Corp., Datang Telecom Technology Co., Huawei Technologies Co., Motorola Inc., Nortel Networks Corp. and Siemens AG.

Source:佚名