With China Mobile struggling to deploy a 3G TD-SCDMA network in time for the Beijing Olympics, news that Nokia is behind plans to deploy a trial network in Italy using the same technology is somewhat odd. The network, which will supposedly be targeted at corporate users, is to be built by the Chinese telecoms vendor Potevio and Italy's Mywave Electronics. Potevio, is a joint venture between China Putian (51 per cent) and Nokia (49 per cent). Potevio is reported to be already running TD-SCDMA trials in Tianjin and Qinhuangdao in China, with other TD-SCDMA test networks being installed in Hong Kong, South Korea, Canada, Romania and Ghana. No timescales have been given regarding the Italian network deployment.
A recent report published by ABI claimed that, although China's TD-SCDMA 3G technology will be deployed on a small scale during the Beijing Olympics, local operators are very unlikely to invest heavily in any 3G given that LTE is fast becoming the future technology of choice.
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