Telco gears up to test domestic 3G network

CHINA Mobile will purchase 30,000 3G phones based on a home-grown standard via a public bidding to begin tests on the third generation network, the world's biggest cell phone carrier said yesterday.

But the move doesn't mean that home-grown TD-SCDMA phones and long-awaited services will be commercially used nationwide soon, analysts said.

The telco will purchase 30,000 TD-SCDMA (time division-synchronous code division multiple access) phones and 10,000 TD-SCDMA data cards to test the pilot network. Interested firms have until Sunday to get the bid documents.

Gao Songge, a China Mobile's spokesperson, declined to reveal the budget of the purchase and timetable.

Each TD-SCDMA model costs about 2,500 yuan (US$338) to 3,000 yuan.

China Mobile, which added an extra 6.5 million subscribers last month, invested heavily to build TD-SCDMA networks in several cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen as a preparation for the Olympics next year.

"TD-SCDMA needs more time to become mature and it won't come into mass construction before the end of next year," said Wang Zhiguang, a telecommunications analyst at the Oriental Securities.

ZTE, China's biggest telecom equipment maker, said yesterday it will attend the bidding but it declined to reveal more details.

About 10 handset vendors, including ZTE, Datang Mobile, Lenovo and Samsung, are involved, according to a industry official, who declined to be identified.