China Mobile grows its list of 3G partners — MobileMonday Global: Industry News

^{Ericsson climbs on TD-SCDMA train} China Mobile grows its list of 3G partners

11 Mar 2007 at 15:47 GMT Timo Poropudas

China Mobile has added four major telecoms equipment vendors to its roster of possible equipment suppliers for its future 3G network.

The latest players to get their names on the guest list are: Ericsson, Alcatel Shanghai Bell, FiberHome Technologies and Guangzhou New Postcom Equipment Co.

According to reports in the local press, these four will join local companies Datang Mobile, Potevio, ZTE and TD Tech on the list of possible contractors.

The whole infrastructure could reach around US$2.6 billion.

All nominated companies hope to be heavily involved in China Mobile’s TD-SCDMA (time division synchronous code division multiple access) network construction.

The China Daily website reports that the mobile company has not yet decided on its final investment budget. Apparently the carrier submitted three different budgets to government regulators, the final one chosen will depend on the course taken by the government.

China is expected to issue a 3G licence for its home-grown standard, the TD-SCDMA system, before allowing other competing technology systems to operate. It is expected that licences for two western-developed 3G systems will also be issued at a later date.