That huge Chinese market is looking better and better:
BEIJING -- China's Qingdao Hisense Group is to manufacture
mobile phone handsets which use Code Division Multiple
Access, or CDMA, technology for sale on the domestic
Chinese market, state media reported Friday.
The company will invest an initial 400 million yuan
($1=CNY8.28) to establish its CDMA production facilities,
and eventually plans to invest between CNY800 million and
CNY1 billion, the Financial Daily reported. Hisense Group has
a listed unit, Hisense Electronic Co. (Q.HSS), which lists
yuan-denominated A shares on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
Until now, Chinese handset manufacturers have concentrated
on rival phone technology, General System for Mobile
telecommunications, or GSM. However, U.S.-based
Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM) has been negotiating with China's
second mobile phone carrier, China United
Telecommunications Ltd., known as China Unicom Group, to
invest in a CDMA network using current generation
technology.
China Unicom Group announced last month its plans to invest
in a wireless network using current generation CDMA
technology developed by Qualcomm, but hasn't revealed
details of the size or cost of the rollout. However, executives
said the company's listed unit, China Unicom Ltd. (CHU),
won't initially be involved in the construction of the CDMA
network.
Hisense Mobile Communications Corp. General Manager Gao
Yuling said the new production line will be designed to enable
the company to make both CDMA and GSM handsets, the
report said. This will protect the company should the rollout
of China's CDMA network be suspended or halted, Gao said.
Hisense Group will be the fourth domestic company in China
to manufacture handsets which use CDMA technology.
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