China's TD-SCDMA Expansion Delayed Until After Olympics

China Mobile Communications, the parent to Hong Kong-listed China Mobile is reported to be planning a tender for the second phase of its TD-SCDMA network rollout, but not until following this August's Olympic Games.

Sources told the South China Morning Post that China Mobile is - as widely expected - to be forced to stick with the Chinese developed 3G technology while its rivals China Unicom and China Telecom will be allowed to use CDMA or WCDMA as they prefer.

"China Mobile will not expand the network to other cities before the Olympics," said Fok Tung-ling, chairman of Comba Telecom Systems Holdings, one of the equipment suppliers to China Mobile's TD-SCDMA networks. However, he then confirmed that the mobile operator is expected to tender for a contract to expand the network after the Olympics. "The next phase of the TD-SCDMA network expansion will not be limited to the existing 10 cities, and is likely to be aggressively rolled out on the mainland," Mr Fok added.

China's CCID Consulting issued a report earlier this year which predicted that the country would have 51 million TD-CDMA subscribers by 2011. CCID Consulting forecast that after an introduction period of deployment in 2008, TD-SCDMA will enter a peak period of deployment between 2009 and 2011.

To attract subscribers, China Mobile has already opened TD-SCDMA "experience shops" in eight major cities where existing 3G trials are underway to allow the public to experiment with TD-SCDMA handsets and gain confidence with their capabilities.

During this initial launch, 60,000 dual-mode TD-SCDMA/GSM handsets and 15,000 data cards will be on sale in China MobileĆ's TD-SCDMA experience shops, from popular brands such Samsung, LG, Hisense, Lenovo, ZTE, and Postcom. These handsets are in the mid- to high-end range with built-in camera, wide screen, and extensive multimedia applications. China Mobile is believed to be selling these phones for subsidized prices of RMB2,000 ($286) - RMB4,000 ($572).

However, there could be another factor in the delay for the network rollout - and that is reports coming from people testing the TD-SCDMA phones are less than impressed with the service.

"The battery only works for one day after each charge, much less than my previous Nokia phone," journalist Irene Zhou, who paid US$400 for a Samsung TD-SCDMA phone told the Shanghai Daily. Zhou, who often takes out-of-town business trip, expects a phone battery to last for about three days. There were also complaints about coverage, although that is more forgivable in a trial network.

On the web: South China Morning Post

Posted to the site on 16th June 2008