China to Wait until 2006 for 3G

[Barry]

Chinese officials will likely wait until next year to award licenses for 3G technology, according to a prediction by market research firm iSuppli Corp. The firm said that recent setbacks in testing TD-SCDMA technology-the country's homegrown 3G technology-may cause the Chinese government to hold off on granting 3G licenses until the technology is ready.

iSuppli's forecasts follow a report in China Daily that TD-SCDMA did not fair well in recent tests. According to the report, the chips in TD-SCDMA phones did not perform as expected.

Many in the industry expected Beijing to issue four 3G licenses this year, although the licensing timetable has been continually delayed for several years. Such licenses represent a major opportunity for phone and gear vendors, as China is the world's largest wireless market. iSuppli now forecasts that 3G licenses will be awarded next year. The firm said China will have 34 million 3G subscribers by 2009-and that only 30 percent will be TD-SCDMA users.

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