CHINESE telecommunications companies may limit investment in third-generation services for mobile phones to prepare for the adoption of even faster wireless technologies, ABN Amro Holdings NV said.

"There isn't a huge business case for 3G," Wendy Liu, ABN Amro's head of China research, told reporters in Hong Kong yesterday, Bloomberg News reported. "It makes sense for China to go directly to 4G as it may offer better returns on investments," she said.

Chinese carriers may spend about US$20 billion building networks for 3G services, which allow faster downloads of video and music on mobile phones, CLSA Ltd Asian telecommunications research head Francis Cheung said in May. Fourth-generation services offer download speeds up to 14 times quicker than 3G.

Investments for 4G are not expected to start until 2010, ABN Amro's Liu said. The technology may allow users to transfer data at 200 megabits per second, according to the Website of Alcatel-Lucent SA, the world's largest maker of telecommunications equipment.