- Three Chinese telecom operators recently revealed the current development of their respective 3G networks, according to DoNews.com on May 16. In the wake of its announcement that the company had preliminarily completed its pan-China CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) 1xEVDO (Evolution Data Only) Rev. B network deployment in 342 cities and 2,000 prefecture-level cities as of the end of July 2009, China Telecom stated that the company also completed its WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) coverage in most of provinces and cities in southern and northern China, according to the same source. Prior to the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, China Telecom's 3G network based on EVDO Rev. B reached a downlink rate of 9.3Mbps.

 

To date, China Unicom's WCDMA (Wideband CDMA) network coverage has included 335 cities, covering all prefecture-level cities, except five cities in Tibet. The second phase of WCDMA network construction, comprising 50 cities located mainly in central and western China, had completed in November 2009. Following the network modernization at the end of December 2009, China Unicom recently announced that the company is set to begin the commercialization of its WCDMA service and the release of mobile phone numbers in these 50 cities soon, according again to DoNews.com.

 

Meanwhile, China Mobile stated that following the completion of its third phase TD-SCDMA network construction on December 29, 2009, the company's TD-SCDMA network coverage has included 238, or 70% of, prefecture-level cities, with a total of 100,000 base stations being installed. With its fourth phase TD-SCDMA network construction plan being finalized, China Mobile expects its network coverage to include 330 cities upon the completion of the fourth round of construction.

 

- Following its completion of the TD-LTE (TD-Long Term Evolution) indoor phase I test and phase I field tests initiated by China's MIIT (Ministry of Industry and Information Technology), ZTE announced on May 14 that the company also passed the indoor phase II test, boasting to be the first to complete and passed all tests requested by the MIIT, according to DoNews.com on May 14. During the past few months, Huawei, Motorola, Nokia Siemens Networks also passed MIIT's Phase I field tests.

 

 

- China Telecom announced on May 17 that the company will begin to sell the Blackberry Storm Smartphone developed by RIM (Research In Motion) in late May, 2010, the Sohu IT News reported on May 17. Blackberry Smartphones will be initially available for China Telecom's enterprises users only in 16 of China's 31 provinces. Further details regarding the price of the Storm Smartphone, however, were not yet disclosed. With an aim to tap growing demand for Smartphones in China, China Telecom also plans to launch Smartphones developed by another mobile phone maker Palm in July, 2010, according to the same source. According to China's MIIT statistics, 3G users of China Telecom, China Mobile, and China Unicom respectively accounted for 30.8%, 42.5%, and 26.7% of the total 3G users in China, as of the end of March, 2010.