PEOPLE in Shanghai will be able to buy home-grown 3G phones next week, the first time they have been available on China's mainland.
Industry officials said last night the move highlighted the remarkable progress of China's 3G development and will hasten the process for the country's long-awaited issuing of 3G licenses.
At least two of China Mobile's outlets in the city will demonstrate TD-SCDMA (time division-synchronous code division multiple access) services and sell 3G phones and data cards next week.
Nationally, China Mobile will start to trial the commercial use of networks based on China-developed TD-SCDMA technology in eight cities next month. The cities include Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Shenzhen and Guangzhou, said Wang Jianzhou, China Mobile's chairman.
"That means TD-SCDMA has entered the stage of testing market response," said Sandy Shen, an analyst at Gartner Inc, a United States-based IT consulting firm.
Before that, TD-SCDMA was at the stage of solving technical problems and network constriction. China is expected to issue 3G licenses if TD-SCDMA becomes mature, industry insiders said.
China Mobile, which invested heavily to build TD-SCDMA networks in several cities for the Beijing Olympics, purchased 30,000 TD-SCDMA phones and 10,000 data cards through public bidding, the world's biggest cell phone carrier said previously.
Six handset firms won the bid, including ZTE, Samsung and AMOI.
More than 2,000 ZTE TD-SCDMA phones will be available in Shanghai if the carrier starts the services, said Luo Zhongsheng, ZTE's TD-SCDMA terminal product division's general manager.
"The killer applications of TD-SCDMA will probably include mobile TV, video conferencing and handset stock services in China," Luo said.
Many areas in Shanghai, including the Pudong New Area and Metro lines 1 and 2, have TD-SCDMA signals.
The 3G Phones will cost around 3,000 to 3,500 yuan (US$493).
