China accepts 3G mobile phone standards

The decision paves the way for the issuance of 3G licenses, which are to be issued in time for 3G service to be operating for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

Beijing - China's federal government approved the use of American and European standards for third-generation, or 3G, mobile phones, making it the only country to use three standards, Chinese media reports said Thursday.

In additional to the Chinese-developed TD-SCDMA standard, the Information Industry Ministry's approval would also see Europe's WCDMA and the US CDMA2000 standards used, Chinese media reports said.

The decision paves the way for the issuance of 3G licenses, which are to be issued in time for 3G service to be operating for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

'We will let operators choose which standard they want to use, but the government will decide how many 3G licenses are issued,' Xi Guohua, vice minister of the Information Industry Ministry, said, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

The first license was expected to be for TD-SCDMA, which China developed along with Germany's Siemens, analysts said. China's largest mobile phone-network operators - China Netcom, China Telecom, China Mobile and China Unicom - said they were were standing at the ready to make use of the new, faster transmissions technology.

With 480 million mobile phone users, China is the largest cellular phone market in the world. The number of users rose 17 per cent in March from the same month a year earlier.

Source : M&C