Datang unveils commercial 3G ambitions
SATURDAY MARCH 9 12:00AM SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST COPYRIGHT 2002 SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST LTD.
Datang Telecom Technology and Industry Group (Datang Group) has unveiled its multi-billion-yuan plans to develop China's home-grown, third-generation (3G) mobile telecommunications standards for commercial use.
The group yesterday announced that it would set up a subsidiary - Datang Mobile Communication Equipment, in which it will have a 90 per cent stake - to develop 3G products based on the TD-SCDMA (time division synchronous code -division multiple access) system.
Zhou Huan, chairman and president of Datang Group and Datang Mobile, said the company had registered capital of 150 million yuan (about HK$ 140.5 million).
However, the investment for developing the full range of TD-SCDMA products would be billions of yuan, Mr Zhou said.
Datang Mobile was negotiating with telecoms equipment makers, investors and venture-capital funds to finance the project, he said.
It is also considering raising funding through an initial public offering.
However, Datang Mobile has not decided whether to raise the funding in the China market or in Hong Kong, nor has it set a timetable for listing.
The firm plans to launch live trials of its technology in May and a commercial launch in the second half of next year.
Working with Siemens, Datang Group had invested about 500 million yuan in development for the technology, Mr Zhou said.
Development of the standard was initiated by the Ministry of Information Industry three years ago to compete with the WCDMA standard from the United States and the CDMA 2000 3G standard from Europe.
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Datang sets up 3G operation
(03/09/2002) (China Daily)
China's Datang Telecom Friday launched the Chinese mainland's first manufacturing company for third-generation (3G) mobile-phone equipment.
Its Beijing-based subsidiary - Datang Mobile Communications Equipment Company - will use indigenous third-generation technology to make real products, said Zhou Huan, president of the parent company and the new subsidiary.
"It will also realize the Chinese people's dream of controlling core telecom technology," he said.
Development of indigenous 3G technology will advance the upgrading of related sectors, including semiconductors, electronic equipment, software and Internet content, Zhou said.
The Chinese mainland market for 3G technology and the related businesses will be worth up to 24 trillion yuan (US$2.9 trillion), he estimated.
China's own 3G technology - TD-SCDMA (time division synchronous code-division multiple access) - is the first international technology standard developed locally.
Zhang Qi, director of the Electronic Products Department of the Ministry of the Information Industry, said the government supports the development of this home-grown technology and encourages more companies to get involved.
Datang Telecom has invested 150 million yuan (US$18 million) in its mobile-phone subsidiary but Zhou said: "That is far from sufficient for capital-hungry mobile telecommunications."
Many international leading brand names have shown an interest in the new firm and want to enter the Chinese telecommunications market via investment in Datang, Zhou told China Daily.
Siemens and Intel are holding negotiations with Datang to try to become strategic investors in the new equipment vendor, according to company sources.
China's mobile telecom market became the biggest in the world in the middle of last year and is being transformed from second-generation to third-generation.
The government will launch field trials of three possible third-generation technologies and decide which it will adopt.
It is widely believed that the government will make a decision before the end of next year although it has been tight-lipped up to now.
Datang is rushing to market its 3G technology as its two counterparts are stronger and more mature.
The Chinese technology was developed later than its two counterparts - the United States-developed CDMA2000 and the Europe-developed WCDMA (wide-band CDMA).
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