3G licensing keeps industry guessing
By Zi Mu (China Daily)Updated: 2006-12-04 08:48
Cao Shumin, vice-dean of the China Academy of Telecommunication Research
(CATR) affiliated with the MII, said major core technologies of the TD-SCDMA
standard have proved mature. "And many doubts about TD-SCDMA have also been
dismissed (after a slew of technology tests and trials), she said.
CATR
has been testing TD-SCDMA on behalf of the MII.
Some industry observers
said the government, when licensing 3G technologies, might seek to give favour
to TD-SCDMA in a bid to ensure it has an upperhand over WCDMA and
CDMA2000.
"We've heard there's an idea TD-SCDMA may be given a time
advantage (over other standards), said Ericsson's Svanberg.
But the CEO was quick to add that his comments were based on
speculation. "We have heard too much and speculated too much in the past few
years," he said.
Rumours have been swirling that China Mobile, the bigger
of the country's two cellular operators, could get a TD-SCDMA licence first.
Licences based on the other two technologies could be handed out
later.
Selecting China Mobile, the world's largest cellular operators by
subscribers, could give TD-SCDMA a big competitive edge over WCDMA and CDMA
2000.
Prior to that, many observers in the industry had been anticipating
fixed-line carrier China Telecom would adopt TD-SCDMA in exchange for a licence
to offer mobile services.
Currently China Telecom is prohibited from offering
mobile phone services, which are much more lucrative than the fixed-line
telephone services.
But the Chinese Government's promise to keep neutral
in technology adoption by operations could make the 3G licensing
complicated.
The Chinese Government committed to technology neutrality
for 3G standards in a Sino-US Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade in
2004.
The US Trade Representative's office said in a statement in April,
ahead of Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to the United States, that "China
has agreed to ensure that telecommunications service providers will be allowed
to make their own choices as to which standard to adopt, and to issue licences
for all 3G standards in a technologically neutral manner."
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