China Mobile in No Hurry to Roll Out 3G Systems
Michael Forsythe
Beijing, May 28 (Bloomberg) -- China Mobile Communications Corp., the parent of Hong Kong's second-largest listed company, said it wants to evaluate the success of the most advanced wireless technology before adopting it for China.
China's No. 1 mobile-phone operator isn't likely to roll out its own so-called third-generation mobile network until 2004 at the earliest, said Vice President Lu Xiangdong. The company will probably start testing third-generation, or 3G, systems later this year or in 2002.
``Third generation phone systems may not be commercially feasible until 2004 or afterward,'' Lu said in an interview while attending a Beijing technology conference.
Companies such as Sweden's Ericsson AB, Germany's Siemens AG, and Qualcomm Inc. of the U.S. are developing equipment based on different third-generation, or 3G, standards for China. The world's most-populous nation is set to surpass the U.S. later this year as the largest market for mobile phones.
Next month China will begin general packet radio services (GPRS) in 25 cities, a transition standard between current mobile technology and advanced systems such as wideband code division multiple access (W-CDMA).
In addition to assessing the success of those services, China Mobile also will evaluate the success of 3G systems in other countries before deciding on a nationwide rollout, he said. Implementation in the U.K., Spain and Japan has been delayed because of commercial and technical reasons, he said.
``China Mobile's business strategy is completely different from European and even Hong Kong telecom operators,'' said Erik Feng, the executive vice president of Ericsson's China unit, who runs the department that supplies equipment to China Mobile. ``They wait to see if there is commercial demand before building a network.''
MobileOne
Meanwhile, MobileOne (Asia) Pte. said it is talking with China Mobile to jointly test 3G services. Singapore's second- largest mobile phone operator plans to set up a trial 3G project with China Mobile to evaluate the commercial appeal of the system among a Mandarin-speaking public. M1 said its platform will be ready around October.
``In Singapore, (China Mobile) can actually see how the (system) works with customers,'' said MobileOne chief executive Neil Montefiore in an interview. ''We are looking for people that come with ideas and develop the ideas on our platforms.''
Montefiore said 3G phones will not succeed until handset makers come up with easy-to-use phones. Also, customers in China, which has a per capita gross domestic product of about $900, will probably wait for prices to drop before buying such phones, analysts said.
``My feeling is that 3G in China won't really happen until the equipment is cheaper,'' said Colin McCallum, a telecommunications analyst at HSBC Securities in Hong Kong. ``That won't happen until the rest of the world is fairly into it.''
China Mobile plans to extends GPRS to about 160 cities this October after judging its success, said Ericsson's Feng.
Shares of China Mobile Ltd. rose 0.25 percent to HK$40.60 in Hong Kong.
05/28/2001 6:35 |
