China Netcom has spoken out, urging the Chinese government to act on issuing 3G licenses. Netcom, the country's second-largest fixed-line operator, called on the Chinese government to award 3G mobile licenses by March 2007 to ensure that the service would be ready for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Investors are becoming impatient over the lack of clarity surrounding Beijing's time table for 3G licenses. One major problem is trying to get China's homegrown TD-SCDMA standard up to par. China wants to require some of China's operators to use that technology, but it has never before been commercially deployed. If it doesn't perform as existing 3G technologies, these operators will be at a disadvantage.
For more about Netcom's 3G concerns:
- read this article [1] from The Financial Times
Links:
[1] http://www.ft.com/cms/s/ea0bb8e2-32b9-11db-87ac-0000779e2340.html