According to the Communist Party newspaper People's Daily, China's own 3G standard TD-SCDMA is ready to roll out. The tech community is proceeding with caution on this announcement as similar ones have been made in the past. 3G systems are aimed at moving data faster across mobile phone networks, allowing Web surfing, music downloads and mobile TV. During tests last June, TD-SCDMA could only handle calls and SMS. The country's government has said in the past it wants 3G networks up and running by the 2008 Beijing Olympics. China claims 350 million mobile service subscribers and is one of the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) fastest growing wireless markets.
For more on China's TD-SCDMA:
- see this piece from BusinessWeek