China Mobile to roll out 3G by October

China Mobile Ltd (中國移動通信), the country's largest mobile network operator, plans to roll out third generation (3G) mobile services before the end of October, state media said yesterday.

The company is going to invest more than 15 billion yuan (US$1.9 billion) to build TD-SCDMA networks in 2007, the Beijing-based Economic Observer reported, citing a plan by China Mobile.

TD-SCDMA, or Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access, is a Beijing-backed standard for 3G telecoms services, technology that can transmit images and video at high speeds.

The company will finish the construction of 8,602 TD-SCDMA base stations in eight cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen before October this year.

It will also complete the procurement of core equipment based on this standard before the end of May, it said.

Repeated delays following promises to grant all 3G platform licenses has sparked speculation that its home-grown standard is not yet up to snuff.

The government has promised it will issue 3G licenses in time for operations to be launched by the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

The newspaper cited analysts as saying that China Mobile's large-scale commercial deployment for this technology indicates that the government has "indirectly" issued the TD-SCDMA license.

Li Yuan, an analyst with China International Capital Corp, said China Mobile is likely to mainly operate the networks based on the home-grown standard after the roll out.