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China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) kicked off the year by formally issuing the long-awaited 3G licenses to the country's three mobile carriers.
The results themselves weren't surprising. As expected, China Mobile was awarded a license to operate the world's first network using TD-SCDMA. China Unicom, which completed its merger with former fixed-line carrier China Netcom just prior to the announcement in early January, was given the go-ahead to build out a W-CDMA network. And China Telecom will upgrade its newly-acquired CDMA network to cdma2000 EV-DO. Analysts expect the first commercial services in the second quarter.
The licensing, which had been delayed for several years to allow the development of TD-SCDMA, was brought forward as part of an economic stimulus package. MIIT chief Li Yizhong has predicted 280 billion yuan ($41 billion) in direct network investment over the next two years.
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That could be big news to wireless infrastructure vendors who have been hungering for heavyweight 3G supply ...
Source: HighBeam Research, China's 3G licenses could spur vendor price war.(NEWS ANALYSIS)