China Mobile, China United Telecommunications, China Network Communications and China Telecom, four operators of telecommunication services in China, have reportedly talked with international suppliers of WiMAX equipment and solutions, at the Global WiMAX Summit in China 2007 held by the WiMAX Forum in Beijing on September 10 and 11, in a bid to evaluate IEEE 802.16e (mobile WiMAX) technology and test the equipment concerned, according to industry sources in Taiwan.

China Network and China Telecom are more interested in IEEE 802.16e than the other two, as they have not yet provided mobile communication services, the sources pointed out.

China has been strategically promoting TD-SCDMA, the China-developed 3G standard, and has not yet issued operating licenses for 3G mobile communications, the sources noted. In light of the situation, international suppliers of WiMAX hardware/software solutions especially emphasized at the summit that IEEE 802.16e and 3G are technologically complementary rather than mutually competing, an attempt to promote the technology in the large market in China, the sources indicated.