China GrenTech Wins Mobile Contract for Olympics
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China GrenTech will supply wireless networking equipment to China Mobile, the largest mobile phone operator, for the 2008 Olympics.
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French telecoms equipment maker  Alcatel is nearing a deal with a Chinese peer on cooperating to  build third-generation (3G) mobile phone networks using a  Chinese technology standard, a senior executive said.
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com December 8, 2004, 7:53 AM PT. PalmSource, which makes software for mobile devices, said Wednesday that it has agreed to acquire China MobileSoft in a deal expected to expand the
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InfoWorld - The Chinese government will not issue licenses for 3G (third-generation) mobile services until the first quarter of 2008, according to a Chinese report.
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Ericsson said Friday that it received contracts to build wireless communications networks in China and South Africa. China Telecom Corp.
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(InfoWorld) - The 2008 Summer Olympics is going to be China's coming out party, a chance for the country to show its modern face to the world. To that end, the Chinese government is pouring billions of dollars into new roads, modern stadiums, and an expanded subway network to prepare for the games. With less than 400 days until the opening ceremony on Aug. 8, 2008, workers and officials appear on track to have everything ready. Everything, that is, except 3G, or third-generation mobile technology. China remains one of the few Asian countriesÂ without 3G service, despite years of breakneck economic development and a love of high technology. Telecom analysts and industry insiders have long sought to divine the plans of China's Ministry of Information Industry (MII), which regulates the telecommunications sector, to give operators licenses for the technology. Year after year,Â the forecastÂ was always for licenses to be issued later this year or early next year. Eventually, most observers gave up guessing, tired of the game, as foreign equipment makers waited for a presumed surge in orders for 3G gear that never came. The main obstacle was TD-SCDMAÂ (Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access), a 3G standard that was largely developed in China and remains unproven. The Chinese government spent heavily on TD-SCDMA development, and officials won't give the go-ahead for 3G licenses until the technology is ready for deployment. When that might happen is anybody's guess. But TD-SCDMA trials are underway in several Chinese cities andÂ Nokia has handsets ready to shipÂ early next year, suggesting the technology may be close to commercial use. When Beijing won the bid to host the games, officials promised a "High-Tech Olympics" to highlight new technologies and showcase China's economic development. 3G was going to be one of the technologies on display. "We shall energetically develop the mobile communication technology of the third generation," the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) promised in documents compiled for the city's bid. After Beijing won the bid, China Mobile CommunicationsÂ (China Mobile), the country's largest mobile operator, described how it planned to use 3G. The company said visitors would be able to buy tickets for Olympic events and watch live video coverage on their 3G phones, as well as access information about restaurants, shopping and sightseeing. Athletes and staff would also use 3G to access information related to the games, it said. China's commitment to the use of 3G during the Olympics was reinforced last December by Wang Xudong, China's minister of information industry, who promised operators would have 3G licenses in time to build their networks for the Olympic games. BOCOG officials declined to answer questions concerning the use of 3G during the games, but analysts expect the government to deliver on its 3G commitment. "The Chinese government will not break its promise," said Kevin Li, an analyst at In-Stat China, in Beijing. But regulators have another hurdle to overcome before 3G licenses can be issued China's telecommunications industry is split along geographic and technological lines, with two fixed-line operators and two mobile operators, as well as several smaller players. Since this structure was created in 1999, the industry has changed, complicating the 3G licensing process. China had 110 million fixed-line phone subscribers and 33 million mobile subscribers at the end of 1999, according to government statistics. Fast forward to May 2007 and the numbers tell a very different story: China had 372 million fixed-line subscribers and 496 million mobile subscribers. The disparity in subscriber growth is reflected in the financial performance of China's fixed-line and mobile operators, especially China Mobile. China Mobile saw its revenue rise 24.9 percent during 2006, while China United Communications Corp. (China Unicom), the country's other mobile operator, saw revenue increase 11.3 percent. By comparison, fixed-line operators China Telecommunications (China Telecom) and China Network Communications GroupÂ (China Netcom) saw their revenue rise 6.3 percent and 4 percent, respectively. "China Mobile's growth has made it the envy of other operators in China," wrote Matt Walker, a senior analyst at Ovum, in a recent research note. To put operators on a more equal footing, China is widely expected to split up China Unicom, which operates both a GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) and CDMA networks. In this scenario, China Unicom's cellular operations would be divided between China Telecom and China Netcom, which do not currently offer cellular services, although both companies are involved in TD-SCDMA testing. But how the industry gets restructured is not up to MII alone. The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC), which oversees China's state-owned companies, plays a central role in the restructuring process, and will help determine which 3G technologies operators are allowed to use with their licenses. The National Development and Reform Commission and Ministry of Science and Technology also have a say in these decisions. Once the questions of TD-SCDMA's readiness and the industry restructuring are resolved, MII can issue 3G licenses . That's likely to happen during the first half of 2008, with licenses for TD-SCDMA, W-CDMA (Wideband CDMA), and CDMA2000 1X EV-DO (Evolution Data Optimized) networks granted simultaneously, In-Stat's Li said. But not all of these networks will be in service for the games. "At least one type of 3G service will be commercially available during the 2008 Olympics, but we are not sure which technology will be available," Li said. "That's up to the operators." The most likely bet is TD-SCDMA. Operators have already signed contracts to build TD-SCDMA networks in Beijing and other cities, including Qingdao, where the Olympic sailing events will be held. Similar deals have not yet been struck for W-CDMA and CDMA2000 1X EV-DO, giving the homegrown 3G technology a head start for the games. Â
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(InfoWorld) - China launched the first trials of a home-grown 4G (fourth-generation) mobile communications network in a district of Shanghai on Sunday, despite the fact it hasn't even decided on standards for 3G (third-generation) services, the Web site of the state-run China Daily reported. The field test in Shanghai's Changning District will cost about 150 million Chinese renminbi ($19.3 million) by the time it's completed and marks an important step for China. It will be the final trial of a system made in China and fulfills a goal ofÂ developing technology at homeÂ to meet the needs of Chinese users. The group of 10 Chinese institutions involved in the 4G project have obtained more than 200 patents for the system since starting research in 2001, and some of its fundamental technologies have been adopted by international standards organizations, the China Daily said, without naming the organizations. The goal has been to put the 4G system into trial commercial use between 2006 and 2010. The 4G system was designed to transmit data and images wirelessly at speeds as fast as landline optical fiber, the China Daily said. Research on the 4G system, called the FuTURE Project, short for Future Technology for Universal Radio Environment, was started as part of China's national high-tech initiative. China hasn't yet released aÂ timetable for the rollout of 3GÂ mobile networks, nor said how many licenses it will issue. Chinese officials have said they want 3G services up and running in time for the 2008 Olympic Games, to be held in Beijing. One issue surrounding the opening of 3G services in China has been the selection of the technology or technologies to be used. Many Chinese officials favor a home-grown standard, TD-SCDMA (Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access), but a TD-SDCMA rollout could prove slow because of a lack of support from equipment and handset manufacturers. Â
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China.com said it signed advertising contracts  with Google Inc. and China Mobile Ltd. to further expand its  strategic partnerships with the companies.
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(InfoWorld) - The Chinese government will not issue licenses for 3G (third-generation) mobile services until the first quarter of 2008, according to a Chinese report. China's Ministry of Information Industry (MII) will not issue the licenses until a new round of tests involving theÂ homegrown TD-SCDMAÂ (time division synchronous code division multiple access) 3G technology ends next year, reported Caijing magazine in its latest issue. Delaying the releaseÂ of the 3G licenses will give TD-SCDMA and its backers additional time to close the gap with more mature 3G technologies, WCDMA (wideband CDMA) and CDMA2000 EV-DO (evolution data optimized). In December, China's Minister of Information Industry, Wang Xudong, reiterated a promise that commercial 3G services would be available when Beijing hosts the Olympic Games in 2008. Issuing licenses during the first quarter of 2008 would still allow operators to meet this goal, even if they have little time to expand their 3G coverage areas throughout the country. The eventual release of 3G licenses will coincide with a restructuring of China's major telecommunications operators, which are currently split into fixed-line and mobile carriers, Caijing reported. The four major Chinese telecommunication operators, which are all state-owned, are currently divided into fixed-line and mobile carriers. China TelecommunicationsÂ (China Telecom) and China Network Telecommunications Group (China Netcom) are the country's primary fixed-line carriers, offering voice and Internet services. To avoid overlap and direct competition between the two carriers, the country was divided up between the two companies. China Telecom serves western and southern China, including Shanghai, while China Netcom's market covers the north, including Beijing. The two mobile carriers, China Mobile Communications (China Mobile) and China United Telecommunications Co. (China Unicom), are not restricted geographically but they use different technologies. China Mobile operates a GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) network and has the most subscribers, while China Unicom has both a GSM network and a CDMA service that is its primary network and offers faster data downloads. Determining how these companies will be structured, and what mobile networks they will have, is not something that will be determined by MII alone. The decision also involves the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC), which oversees China's state-owned companies and is a central player in the 3G licensing process. Further complicating the bureaucratic wrangling over 3G and telecommunication industry reform, there are other government organizations, including the National Development and Reform Commission and Ministry of Science and Technology, involved in the decision process.
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Text of report in English by official Chinese news agency Xinhua (New China News Agency)  Beijing, 21 September: China Telecom, a leading fixed-line phone operator in China, has joined the country's fierce Internet search engine competition with Microsoft as its technical partner.
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China's Mobile Search Leader Makes Its Services Available for Free to IM                     Users on Handheld Devices and PCs    SHANGHAI, China, Sept. 18 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- mInfo(R) Inc.
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(InfoWorld) - BenQÂ will close a mobile phone research and development center in Beijing as it continues to slim operations. The company opted earlier this year toÂ stop investing in a German subsidiaryÂ due to rising losses. The Taiwanese company will shift work from the Beijing center to R&D labs in Suzhou, China, and Taiwan, BenQ said Monday. Closing the Beijing facility will help it reduce costs and work more efficiently, it said. Around 400 workers in Beijing will be affected by the closure, but some of them are expected to relocate to Suzhou. The closure shows BenQ is still trying to recover from its push to become a global handset player via BenQ Mobile, the mobile phone operation itÂ took over from SiemensÂ last year. The operation was such a burden to Siemens that it paid BenQ â¬250 million ($327.1 million) to take it over. It proved too difficult for BenQ to turn around, despite strong intellectual property and a solid brand name in Europe. The decision to step away from the business cost BenQ dearly, and the company still faces financial troubles from the move.Â BenQ lost NT$12.22 billionÂ (US$375.1 million) in the third quarter of this year, mainly due to inventory and impairment charges related to BenQ Mobile. It was BenQ's fourth straight quarterly loss. In all, the Taiwanese company reckons it lost over US$1 billion in its mobile phone operations over the past year. Analysts roundly blamed stiff competition in the mobile handset business for BenQ's troubles. NokiaÂ and MotorolaÂ have been taking market share away from most of their rivals in the handset business this year.
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BEIJING - A consortium of Japanese firms led by Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. won a $12 billion contract to provide high-speed trains to China, Xinhua news agency said on Monday.
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Athens - Runner-up to the United States by a handful of gold medals at the Athens Olympics, China was the big winner at the Paralympics.
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South Korea's top mobile carrier SK Telecom said it has agreed with the Chinese government to cooperate in developing third-generation (3G) mobile technologies.
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Politics forces Hutchison to sell UK and Italy? By end of Friday, Hutchison Whampoa will have announced the sale of its European 3G franchises - both in the UK and in Italy - to China Mobile; thus confounding the hopes of European operators like TIM and Vodafone of picking up some cheap spectrum.â¦
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British Olympic Association chief Craig Reedie has signed a &quot;memorandum of understanding&quot; with China&#39;s Olympic boss Yuan Weimin.