China's 3G, A Question of Standards.

(From SinoCast China IT Watch)

CHINA, August 21, SinoCast -- With third-generation (3G) wireless communications eliciting only a lukewarm response in the rest of the world, will China - the world's biggest mobile- telephone market - be the catholicon to breathe new life into the technology? It's hard to give a quick answer but the enthusiasm for 3G in China has led to both foreign and domestic companies to eagerly await the launch of 3G.

It is widely speculated that the Chinese Government would issue the 3G licenses early next year - a source close to the Ministry of Information Industry said that the country's IT watchdog is studying the right time to issue 3G licenses and accelerating testing on 3G-related projects.

Reliable sources said that China is likely to soon finish testing 3G-related technologies, which may result in licenses being issued early next year.

The 3G TEG (China 3G Technical Trial Expert Group) and RITT (Research Institute of Telecommunications Transmission) at the China Academy of Telecommunications Research with the Ministry of Information Industry (MII) are responsible for testing equipment, terminals and systems based on all three 3G standards - European-backed WCDMA, US-based Qualcomm Corp's CDMA2000 and home-grown TD-SCDMA (time division synchronous CDMA).

The academy will hold a …