Second phase 3G field tests will commence in China in January, the tests will last about one year. 12 equipment providers and 6 operators will take part in tests, the six operators are China Mobile, China Unicom, China Telecom, China Netcom, China Railcom and China Satcom. All the operators are required to test TD-SCDMA, while China Unicom, China Telecom and China Netcom will also test WCDMA and TD-SCDMA. China Mobile and China Railcom will test only TD-SCDMA and WCDMA.
Most equipment providers cooperate with only one carrier on one standard, the only exceptions are Chinese suppliers Huawei and ZTE, which test both TD-SCDMA and CDMA2000. A recent Sinocast news release reveals that Nokia, Siemens and Alcatel will test only WCDMA. Ericsson, Lucent, Motorola and Nortel were not mentioned in the article, but one would assume that also they are involved in the tests. An interesting nuance is Siemens' absence from TD-SCDMA tests, although Siemens is the one who presented the TD-SCDMA to the Chinese in the first place. |
