Four Chinese telecoms carriers are expected to be awarded licences for third-generation (3G) wireless telecommunications in the second half of this year, said Business Weekly. The licences will be allocated to China Mobile, China Telecom, China Unicom and China Netcom, rather than sold by auction, industry sources told the newspaper.
The timing of the awards will depend on test results of China's time division synchronous code division multiple access (TDSCDMA) technology. If the tests conducted by Datang Telecom Technology this spring are not successful, the issue of licences could be delayed until next year.