BEIJING, Jan 7 (Reuters) - China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said it would issue licences for next generation (3G) mobile networks to its three state-run carriers on Wednesday afternoon.
China Mobile, the world's largest mobile carrier, will be issued a licence for TD-SCDMA at 2:30 pm (0630 GMT) on Wednesday, Wang Lijian, the director of the ministry's news office, told Reuters in a telephone interview.
TD-SCDMA is a technology that is domestically developed and heavily backed by Beijing.
In addition, smaller rival China Unicom would be given a licence to develop a WCDMA network, and China Telecom would receive a licence for CDMA 2000 later in the day, said Wang.
The two technologies are widely used around the world and should be much easier to deploy and service than TD-SCDMA.
The issuance of licences and the allotment of the different technologies was largely a formality after the industry minister laid out the plan last month.
The ministry said then that spending on equipment by carriers would total $41 billion over the next two years.
The new technology handles faster data downloads, allowing cell phone users to make video calls and watch TV programmes.
($=6.83 yuan)
(Reporting by Michael Wei; Writing by Kirby Chien; Editing by Ken Wills) Keywords: TELECOMS LICENCE/CHINA (kirby.chien@thomsonreuters.com; +86 139 1050 7516; Reuters Messaging: kirby.chien.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
China Mobile, the world's largest mobile carrier, will be issued a licence for TD-SCDMA at 2:30 pm (0630 GMT) on Wednesday, Wang Lijian, the director of the ministry's news office, told Reuters in a telephone interview.
TD-SCDMA is a technology that is domestically developed and heavily backed by Beijing.
In addition, smaller rival China Unicom would be given a licence to develop a WCDMA network, and China Telecom would receive a licence for CDMA 2000 later in the day, said Wang.
The two technologies are widely used around the world and should be much easier to deploy and service than TD-SCDMA.
The issuance of licences and the allotment of the different technologies was largely a formality after the industry minister laid out the plan last month.
The ministry said then that spending on equipment by carriers would total $41 billion over the next two years.
The new technology handles faster data downloads, allowing cell phone users to make video calls and watch TV programmes.
($=6.83 yuan)
(Reporting by Michael Wei; Writing by Kirby Chien; Editing by Ken Wills) Keywords: TELECOMS LICENCE/CHINA (kirby.chien@thomsonreuters.com; +86 139 1050 7516; Reuters Messaging: kirby.chien.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
© 2009 AFX News
