Weekly TD-SCDMA Update December 8 - 14
December 12, 2008
- Minister of China's MIIT (Ministry of Industry and Information Technology), Li Yizhong, reiterated that 3G mobile phone licenses will be released by year-end 2008 or at the beginning of 2009, according to Sina News on December 12. In accordance to the government's plan, China Mobile will be awarded a TD-SCDMA license, China Unicom a WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) license, and China Telecom a CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) 2000 license. Meanwhile, Li also stated that the government will invest at least 200 billion RMB (US$29.2 billion; US$1 = 6.85 RMB) into 3G during 2009.
- Following the announcement of its second phase TD-SCMDA equipment bid results, China Mobile has separately signed the second phase of TD-SCDMA network construction deals with eight telecommunication equipment providers, the Sohu IT News reported on December 12. The value of the deals is totaled at around 5.38 billion RMB (US$785.2 million), which, however, is considerably less than the previous estimate of over 30 billion RMB (US$4.4 billion). Signees include Datang Mobile and its affiliates, namely Alcatel-Shanghai Bell, Fiberhome, and New Postcom, along with ZTE, Nokia Siemens Networks, Ericsson, and Potevio, according to the same source.