Ericsson expects the distribution of licenses for 3G mobile services in China to be delayed until the third quarter, a Reuters report said.
Ericsson previously announced that it expected to see a decision on the 3G licenses in China toward the end of the first half and a rollout of the new services during the second half.
"There is an obvious risk that handing out the 3G licenses in China will be delayed to the third quarter," Johan Adler, head of Ericsson's operations in Hong Kong, was quoted by Reuters as saying.
The report said equipment vendors such as Ericsson, Siemens, Motorola and Nokia were eagerly awaiting the rollout of 3G services in China, which was expected to unleash up to $12 billion in investment in new telecom equipment.
Adler was also quoted as saying that the reason for the possible delay was that China had begun field tests of its locally developed 3G standard, TD-SCDMA, and was likely to wait to award 3G licenses until the tests of the new technology were concluded.