Magic in the air

It’s less than a week since China Mobile was awarded a license to operate a third-generation (3G) mobile network based on TD-SCDMA technology, and the company isn’t wasting any time. China Mobile has announced it will invest an additional US$8.6 billion to boost the number of 3G base stations from 20,000 to 80,000. Given our experience with prototype TD-SCDMA handsets – no 3G signal in central Beijing – that’s probably a good idea. Passionate long-time followers of telecom standards (it’s all right, your secret is safe with us) will remember that China has long insisted the TD-SCDMA standard is entirely home-grown, denying suggestions it is based in part on foreign standards. The same kinds of denials are now issuing from the Ministry of Railways, which over the weekend rejected accusations that Chinese companies are exporting trains based on stolen Western technology. Rather than nurture hard feelings, we suggest that the relevant parties start planning a holiday at the now-almost-confirmed (but not really confirmed) Shanghai Disneyland, which reports say might open in 2014. Who knows, a bit of pixie dust might just fix TD-SCDMA, too.