China's 3G Failure
After a troubled development process, China's flawed homegrown 3G
mobile standard gets an unofficial commercial launch
by Robert Clark
April 9, 2008
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/apr2008/gb2008049_075033.htm?chan=search
China Mobile will start selling heavily subsidized TD-SCDMA phones in
eight cities from April 1. Officially it's a trial, because 3G
licenses have not yet been issued. In reality it marks the commercial
launch of 3G in China.
Coming six years after the first commercial W-CDMA network launched,
it's hardly the advertisement for innovation that senior officials
intended.
It means that 3G will be available to Olympics visitors only if they
buy a TD handset. According to the International Olympic Committee,
the inability to offer a widely-sup****ted 3G network was the only
infrastructure target Beijing failed to meet.
China Mobile has shown its confidence in the domestic technology by
putting the business under its unlisted parent company. The China
Mobile Group will give away free TD-SCDMA phones to 20,000 selected
customers, laying out a monthly subsidy of 800 yuan ($114) each.
For all the happy talk about "China's own 3G", the experience has been
a disastrous one for China's telecom sector. Vendors and operators
alike have been unwilling participants in the whole exercise.
The upside is it's been a learning process, especially for the
officials at MII and industry think-tanks who dream up these grand
schemes.
It's worth noting that the main pretext for a home-grown
technology-the cost of paying foreign license fees-in this case is
void; Nokia-Siemens and Alcatel-Lucent own the biggest chunks of TD
IPR.
Standalone 3G TD-SCDMA has been a commercial failure. But 4G TD-SCDMA
will be LTE-compatible. A lesson learned.
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jcage Apr 11, 2008 7:04 AM GMT Here is more neutral and objective
re****t about TD-SCDMA and at least inform without manipulating the
news. Follow the link
http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2213097/china-finally-gets-3g-phones
China finally gets 3G phones But not if they use foreign technology
Written by Simon Burns in Taipei vnunet.com, 31 Mar 2008 TD-SCDMA is
likely to face an uphill battle outside mainland China Hwai Lin Khor
Analyst, ABI Research China, the world's largest mobile phone market,
will begin rolling out 3G networks next month after many years of
delay. China Mobile, the country's dominant mobile phone company, will
run a commercial test of 25,000 3G phones and data cards that use the
locally-developed TD-SCDMA technology. The soft launch will cover
eight major cities. The deployment requires government permission, but
China Mobile has not said whether it has received a licence for a
nationwide rollout.
RSA Apr 11, 2008 4:50 AM GMT Westerners love to accuse chinese
government for not being able to tolerate dissidents or different
opinions. But, please look at these westerners, they can't tolerate
china building different technology standards and can't wait to see it
fail!!!
jcage Apr 10, 2008 11:21 PM GMT Your quote "It's worth noting that the
main pretext for a home-grown technology???the cost of paying foreign
license fees???in this case is void; Nokia-Siemens and Alcatel-Lucent
own the biggest chunks of TD IPR" Here is pdf file on the TD-SCDMA.
The IP was developed by the China Academy of Telecommunications
Technology (CATT), Datang and Siemens.
http://www.palowireless.com/3g/docs/TD-SCDMA-China.pdf
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