3G licenses could be issued today

Beijing could grant licenses for third-generation (3G) mobile services as early as today, the South China Morning Post reported, citing unidentified sources close to the telecom companies. Licenses have been delayed due to problems with the development of the home-grown TD-SCDMA 3G technology. The announcement of licenses may be announced simultaneously by operators China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom. On Tuesday, China Unicom announced that a merger between its parent and the parent of China Netcom had been completed, including receiving approval from the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.