Taiwanese Operators Considering Chinese 3G Standard

Two of Taiwan's mobile network operators are reported to be considering China's home-grown 3G technology, TD-SCDMA for their networks. Chunghwa Telecom and Far EasTone are in talks with Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), which signed a deal with China's Datang Telecom to set up a trial TD-SCDMA network on the island, an ITRI spokeswoman has told the Reuters news agency.

"Chunghwa and Far EasTone are talking to us about their interest in the technology," said ITRI spokeswoman Canny Jiang, adding that unlisted VIBO Telecom and Tatung Telecom were also talking to them about using the TD-SCDMA standard.

"They haven't said they'll set up a network in Taiwan, and there are no concrete plans right now, but we're in talks about it," Jiang said.

China Mobile - which operates a TD-SCDMA network - recently announced plans to buy a 12% stake in Taiwan's Far EasTone, although the move is being blocked by politicians.

Last year, Chinese telecoms vendor, Potevio teamed up with Italy's Mywave Electronics to build a trial 3G network in Italy based on the TD-SCDMA standard. Potevio is the brand name of a joint venture between Nokia (49%) and China Putian (51%) and was created in Oct 2005 to develop both TD-SCDMA and WCDMA network equipment.

On the web: Reuters

Posted to the site on 8th June 2009