China Mobile has urged overseas handset manufacturers to provide more types of TD-SCDMA handsets, and raised the possibility of reducing 2G handset orders from those suppliers if they do not comply, internet portal Sina.com reported.

China Mobile issued the threat at a conference, saying that if the overseas suppliers do not 'contribute' to handset development based on China's TD-SCDMA standard, orders for customized 2G handsets will be affected.

At the end of December, overseas mobile phone manufacturers, including Nokia, Motorola and Samsung, had a combined lineup of seven TD-SCDMA handsets, much less than the offerings of domestic companies.

A source from a foreign phone manufacturer told XFN-Asia earlier that his company has reservations about the maturity of the TD-SCDMA technology, leading to a reluctance to invest more in handset development.

China Mobile officially received a license to offer 3G services based on TD-SCDMA platform last week. It also announced the launch of TD-SCDMA services following eight months of commercial trials.

The other two major mobile telecom operators - China Telecom and China Unicom - won licenses based on CDMA2000 and WCDMA technology respectively.

Source:XFN-ASIA