State Council okays 3G license plan

The State Council, or China's Cabinet, agreed at an executive meeting on Wednesday to start issuing licenses to mobile phone operators for third-generation (3G) high-speed networks.

3G networks handle faster data downloads, allowing cell phone users to make video calls and watch TV programs.

The 3G networks will use three technological standards, including the domestically developed TD-SCDMA (Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access), Europe's WCDMA and North America's CDMA 2000.

China to invest $41 bln in 3G network in next two years

BEIJING, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- China will invest 280 billion yuan(40.96 billion U.S. dollars) in developing third-generation (3G) mobile telecommunications networks over the next two years, said Li Yizhong, head of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, here on Friday.

3 companies to run 3G business

There are currently 627 million mobile phone users in China. Two thirds of them are with China Mobile, twenty percent are with China Unicom, and the rest use CDMA technology provided by China Telecom. It's clear that China Mobile has taken control of 2G services. But 3G is providing new opportunities to all three companies.

China Unicom chairman: "golden time" for 3G services

BEIJING, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- Development of China's third-generation (3G) mobile telecommunications network service will enter a "golden time" despite the gloomy industrial situation worldwide, China Unicom Chairman Chang Xiaobing said in a published article.

"Although the world economy is undergoing a tough time amid the widespread financial crisis, and the telecommunications industry faces great uncertainty, China's telecom carriers still expect vast opportunities," Chang said in an article in Caijing magazine's latest yearbook.

Source: CCTV.com