telecom - "TD-SCDMA running into trouble" - Xinhua

The on-going test for the Chinese standard for the third generation mobile phone, the TD-SCDMA, reports the official newswire Xinhua, are running into problems, quoting the secretary of a domestic lobby organization.
But the outstanding problems included handsets, fees, operatingmodes and future development, said Wang. China tries do avoid both other international standards, a US and a European one, so it does not have to pay high fees for the usages of its patents.

TD-SCDMA phones had proved capable of supporting 3G voice and data services in small-scale trials, but their practical operationwas still untested, he said.
"Handsets, which are the second important sector in 3G development after the telecommunications network, determine whether TD-SCDMA can be put into commercial use and whether it canimprove," said Wang.
TD-SCDMA hansets were still the weak link in the industrial chain, which also includes equipment manufacturers and chip makers. Few competitive international phone makers were engaged in TD-SCDMA handset manufacture, which had affected the development of the technology.
"We hope the government could clarify the future policy on TD-SCDMA so that more leading international companies would participate," said Wang.
He said TD-SCDMA should have at least a dozen handset types when it went into commercial use to give customers choice. TD-SCDMA should avoid the expensive prices of second generation handsets.

China has reserved between 37 and 80 billion US dollar in funding for the Chinese standard, making is bigger than the investments for the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008. Both the need to recover invested capital and political prestige are pushing the project ahead, against protest of China's largest mobile phone provider China Mobile who prefers the European standard. For China Mobile building on top of its current system would be cheaper than rolling out a new Chinese standard.