China's Ministry of Information Industry approved the use of European and American standards for 3G mobile phones that are rivals to China's homegrown TD-SCDMA, a Xinhua News report said.
'The three world standards will all be used in China,' Yang Peifang, secretary general of the ministry's telecommunication economist panel, was quoted by the Xinhua report as saying.
China's homegrown TD-SCDMA has been called the 'Chinese 3G standard', W-CDMA is European and cdma2000 is American, the report said.
The Xinhua report also said by adding the two foreign standards to the Chinese market, the government has consolidated its 'technology neutral' stance and offered an open market for different technologies, according to analysts.
China's 3G development depends primarily on strong demand for mobile data processing functions involving multimedia solutions and Internet connections, the report said.
China's major four operators, China Netcom, China Telecom, China Mobile and China Unicom, have started training 3G talents, constituting a war chest and making technological preparations for a smooth transition from the existing mobile telecom networks or PHS networks to 3G, it added.