China WILL let companies choose own 3G standard

Details: Alec Barton; Category: Regulation; 25 April 2006; 9828 views

US Government sources are confident that their approaches to the Chinese Government to allow phone companies to choose their own standard for 3G operations in China have been successful...

US Government sources are confident that their approaches to the Chinese Government to allow phone companies to choose their own standard for 3G operations in China have been successful. Their claim means that the fear that China will impose its own 3G standard (TD-SCDMA) is unfounded.

China plumped for a domestic 3G system peculiar to China precisely to avoid reliance on foreign technology and investment: the new decision, if correct, will have repercussions for a mobile phone market of 400 million customers - the world's largest.

China 's pledge came during trade talks in the run-up to Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to the USA . Chinese officials have undertaken 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." said the statement, dated Tuesday.

One factor which may have swung the decision on favour of a more liberal approach is that Chinese companies are themselves reluctant to deploy TD-SCDMA precisely because their researches have shown that WCDMA and CDMA-2000 work more efficiently.