China will issue 3G mobile licenses and certificates after the restructuring of its six big telecommunications operators. This according to Xi Guohua, vice minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China.
The reorganization is expected to be completed in about six months.
According to the restructuring plan, the TD-SCDMA license is expected to be awarded to China Mobile, while the CDMA2000 license and the WCDMA license will go to China Telecom and the new China Unicom respectively.
Xi Guohua said that foreign visitors will NOT be able to use their WCDMA and CDMA2000 EVDO mobile phones in China during the OIympic Games. However, they will be able to hire mobiles using TD-SCDMA.
China Mobile said it will offer at least 20,000 3G handsets for hire during the Olympic Games.
When asked whether the mobile phone network would work if the 100,000 audience at the Bird’s Nest made phone calls at the same time during the opening ceremony of the Olympics, Xi Guohua said, ‘Although China Netcom and China Mobile have greatly expanded the capacity, we could not guarantee that the network will operate at any minute but it will by no means be paralysed.’
Source: ZDNet Asia and China View