China's Cabinet said it has approved 3G licenses for three mobile operators, a move expected to result in China's operators spending some $41 billion on infrastructure.
It's expected market leader China Mobile will be granted a licenses for China's homegrown standard, TD-SCDMA, while China Unicom will receive a license for W-CDMA technology. China Telecom, which doesn't operate a network, will be granted a license for CDMA2000 technology.
Li Yizhong, minister for industry and information technology, said last month that the licensing decision was a "very significant" response to the global financial crisis. The question now is, how much will foreign vendors benefit? Some believe the move will primarily benefit Chinese vendors. There's no doubt that U.S. and European trade officials are watching the move closely to ensure China abides by the World Trade Organization guidelines.
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