telecom - Unicom, Netcom might merge

China Tech News repeats a rumor in the telecom market that sounds familiar. China Unicom and China Netcom are talking about a closer cooperation, possibly an aquisition of China Netcom by China Unicom.
While the rumor is not being confirmed, it does make sense. Now the roll out of the third generation mobile communication is coming closer, both telecom companies do not seem to have deep enough pockets to finance their own operation.
Part of the rumor is also the sale of Unicom's CDMA's network to China Telecom. That means that China Unicom and China Mobile both have a GSM operation. The question is then: who will take on the Chinese 3G standard, TD-SCDMA?