New network enters mobile war
Author: (HOU MINGJUAN)
January 15,2002
China Unicom's CDMA network was born last week in the warmest Beijing winter in half a century, but will the market response be as warm as the weather?
The company has invested 24 billion yuan (US$2.9 billion) in the code-division multiple-access network. This is the most money that China Unicom has spent on a single project, and construction of the network took a record seven months.
Betting its future on CDMA technology, China Unicom adopted a blanket strategy to cover 330 major cities in China. To ensure that CDMA users can receive phone calls from overseas, China Unicom signed roaming contracts with operators in over a dozen countries and regions.
As a general mobile operator, China Unicom lags behind China Mobile in number of users but it has become the first to operate two completely different mobile networks -CDMA and GSM (global system for mobile communications).
China Unicom Vice-President Lu Jianguo said: "Unicom has two sons and both are good."
Compared with GSM, which was developed mainly in Europe, the CDMA system matured later and has a better performance in terms of frequency efficiency, low radiation, high voice quality and ability to adopt third-generation communications technology.
Yet, as a late comer, the CDMA system is destined to experience more difficulties than GSM technology, which came earlier when people had no other choice open to them.
China Unicom chairman Yang Xianzu, a former senior government official, told Business Weekly that he is aware of the difficulties but is prepared to confront them.
"Behind the glorious debut of CDMA, the pressure on my shoulders is hard to imagine," Yang said.
He said the company would carry out three months of trial operations before the system is implemented on a wide scale. The network equipment needs to be checked again in real operating conditions. This might explain why China Unicom did not implement a major marketing campaign. Another reason and perhaps a more important one is that the mobile phone manufacturers are unprepared.
There are only three or four CDMA mobile phone models in the shops and, in most cases, potential customer wait for a few days.
"Many mobile phone manufacturers expected our network to be launched in late February and not early January, so they are busy catching up," Lu said.
The attitude of the 19 licensed mobile phone manufacturers varies. Some hope to start exploring the market in the short term. Some are still playing the waiting game.
Zhongxing Telecom (ZTE), a Shenzhen-based telecoms equipment vendor, said it has manufactured over 100,000 CDMA mobile phones. It is maintaining production at a rate of 60,000 to 80,000 units a month.
The company Bird, based in Ningbo in East China's Zhejiang Province, said it has made preparations for the large-scale manufacture of CDMA handsets but wants to see the market response before acting.
A Bird manager said: "We do not want to make blind decisions."
Lu said the short supply of handsets should be resolved by around January 20 and no CDMA phones will be imported.
China Mobile, which has three-quarters of all mobile-phone users, refused to comment on the CDMA technology.
No China Mobile officials appeared at the launch ceremony of the CDMA network, although they had been invited.
China Mobile has over 100 million mobile-phone customers, the most in the world. Does it really feel threatened by the CDMA network?
The CDMA network has the same charges as the GSM equivalent, with a monthly basic fee of 50 yuan (US$6) and 0.40 yuan (5 US cents) per minute air time charge. The CDMA network is targeting high and middle-end users, many of whom are already China Mobile customers.
A survey of registered CDMA users in South China's Hainan Province found that all 500 people were over 28 years old with high, reliable incomes.
These people care more about voice quality, security and radiation than price differences, officials said.
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January 15,2002
China Mobile targets GPRS niche
Author: (JIANG CHEN)
To compete head-on with China Unicom's recently launched CDMA (code division multiple access) system, China Mobile, the country's largest wireless carrier, is vigorously pursuing GPRS (general packet radio service), a wireless standard developed in Europe for use in mobile phones and wireless Internet devices such as personal digital assistants.
The company's management believes that the GPRS system, which features data applications, including e-commerce, e-mail and data transfer, will be the next stage in the development of mobile networks and the first step towards third-generation networks.
The company began GPRS commercial trials in 25 major cities last July, selecting a total of 2,900 trial users from 400,000. Two months later, China Mobile launched GPRS commercial trials in 16 provinces and municipalities.
The service was expected to expand to 1.5 million GPRS subscribers by the end of 2001, the company said on its website.
Officials from China Mobile said several factors could affect the success of the GPRS service, which include the availability and affordability of GPRS-enabled terminals, including handsets and PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card International Association) cards for notebook computers; the user-friendliness of GPRS terminals with respect to the services and applications that are provided; and the availability of content and applications on the portal.
Unlike China Unicom, China Mobile has kept a low profile during the launch of its GPRS trials.
"We want to avoid unrealistic customer expectations. Unrealistic expectations inevitably lead to disappointment, which will not be conducive to the sustainable growth of a new service like GPRS in the long run," said a senior company official who declined to be identified.
At present, a GPRS handset costs between 2,000 and 4,000 yuan (US$240-480), which is slightly higher than CDMA handsets.
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January 15,2002
Nokia unveils fresh handsets
Author: (ZHOU KAN)
Finnish mobile phone giant Nokia launched seven new models over the weekend in a bid to further tap the segmented and competitive Chinese market.
The new phones target a wide consumer base that ranges from youths to business professionals.
Of particular note are the Nokia 5510, 5210 and 7650, which are designed to meet the growing demand for entertainment and sports features and carry accessories such as digital cameras, embedded MP3 players, stopwatches and FM radio receivers.
The Nokia 9210c personal communicator, with a colourful display and PDA (personal digital assistance) function, is the most powerful mobile phone available on the Chinese market to date. It not only supports voice and data communications, but Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint applications as well.
"It is no longer possible to target the Chinese market with only one or two products. You have to have more different products to cater to the segmented market," said Colin Giles, general manager of Nokia China's mobile phone division.
As the global leader in the mobile phone business, Nokia always makes news when it unveils its new models.. The latest product launch, however, was particularly attention-grabbing because of the high number of models the company introduced.
Although China has become the world's largest mobile phone market and maintains robust growth, rivalry is fierce as nearly all international mobile phone companies have entered the market and a number of local firms are gearing up to take a slice in the market.
Statistics indicate that nearly 30 mobile phone firms have a presence in China, which boasts more than 150 models on its market.
Giles stressed that the launch of the seven models had nothing to do with China Unicom's CDMA business and was only a "global strategy to widen product range."
China Unicom opened its CDMA network at the end of last month and plans to have 50 million users in three years. Nokia, which is not licensed to supply CDMA handsets in the Chinese market, could be at a disadvantage if CDMA gains a popular following in China in the next several years.
Giles revealed that Nokia was in discussion with local company Capitel, which was granted the CDMA licence, for co-operation in phone production but he refused to give further details.
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