Nokia, Putian ink $111M deal for 3G technologies

Nokia launched a joint venture with China's Putian, making the Finnish company the latest telecom giant to enter China's nascent TD-SCDMA market. If the Chinese government approves the deal, Putian will invest 51 percent of the $111 million venture and Nokia will put up the other 49 percent. The companies plan to focus on R&D, manufacturing, and marketing of commercial 3G products based on both European WCDMA and China's own TD-SCDMA.

China's 3G technology, TD-SCDMA, is still an unproven technology that has no commercial deployments, but the technology has been gaining traction in recent months. Ericsson recently announced a similar TD-SCDMA deal with China's ZTE. Siemens and Huawei launched TD-SCDMA commercial products just yesterday, and Alcatel and Datang also have a joint offering for the technology in the works.

For more on China's TD-SCDMA technology and the Nokia, Putian deal:
- scroll through this press release [1]

PLUS: 3G will transform the Chinese wireless landscape leading to consolidations and increases in capital spending. Release [2]