Alcatel, Datang agree 3G partnership

Alcatel Shanghai Bell (ASB) has agreed to invest US$32.4m in a strategic partnership with Datang Mobile aimed at developing China's homegrown 3G mobile standard, TD-SCDMA. The announcement comes in the same week that government trials concluded that TD-SCDMA lagged well behind competing foreign 3G technologies in terms of market readiness. ASB and Datang Mobile said their agreement would focus on developing a standard for both the Chinese and international markets.