(InfoWorld Daily via NewsEdge) The Chinese government will not issue licenses for 3G mobile services until the first quarter of 2008, according to local media.
China's Ministry of Information Industry (MII) will not issue the licenses until a new round of tests involving the homegrown TD-SCDMA 3G technology ends next year, reported Caijing magazine in its latest issue.
Delaying the release of the 3G licenses will give TD-SCDMA and its backers additional time to close the gap with more mature 3G technologies, such as W-CDMA and cdma2000 EV-DO.
In December, China's Minister of Information Industry, Wang Xudong, reiterated a promise that commercial 3G services would be available when Beijing hosts the Olympic Games in 2008.
Issuing licenses during the first quarter of 2008 would still allow operators to meet this goal, even if they have little time to expand their 3G coverage areas throughout the country.
The eventual release of 3G licenses will coincide with a restructuring of China's major telecommunications operators, which are currently split into fixed-line and mobile carriers, Caijing reported. The four major Chinese telecommunication operators, which are all state-owned, are currently divided into fixed-line and mobile carriers.
China Telecom and China Netcom are the country's primary fixed-line carriers, offering voice and Internet services. To avoid overlap and direct competition between the two carriers, the country was divided up between the two companies. China Telecom serves western and southern China, including Shanghai, while China Netcom's market covers the north, including Beijing. The two mobile carriers, China Mobile and China Unicom, are not restricted geographically but they use different technologies.
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