Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Moderated Thread - please read rules before posting -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Kent Rattey who wrote (3248)	9/25/2000 7:48:50 AM
From: John Carragher	Respond to of 197573

China Unicom Chmn: Can Handle Army CDMA Network Debts Dow Jones Newswires BEIJING -- The head of China's number two telecommunications company said Monday his company will be able to handle the debt tied to an army-run wireless network it is being forced to take over. At a news conference, China United Telecommunications Corp. Chairman Yang Xianzu also hinted his company will invest in developing those networks, based on the narrowband code division multiple access, or CDMA, standard developed by Qualcomm Corp. (QCOM) of the U.S. But he refused to offer details on how those plans might proceed, leaving unclear the precise fate of CDMA in China, and those of Qualcomm and the other foreign companies that support it. Yang's comments come amid reports that his company, known as China Unicom, has rekindled plans to further develop current-generation CDMA after telling investors in June that it planned not to. China's position on CDMA changed, Yang said Monday, when the government decided to inject it with a set of small CDMA networks now run by the army. "Of course we want to make some renovations and some upgrading," Yang said of the army networks, controlled by a company called Great Wall. "The thinking is simple," Yang said. "If you build a network and it doesn't have adequate scale, then it won't have good coverage. If it doesn't have good service, it won't be welcomed by users, and it won't have revenue, and it won't be effective." However, when asked to give a timetable for Unicom's CDMA plans, he refused, saying a "forecast" would be "irresponsible" before a final decision is announced. Yang was less equivocal in addressing concerns that China Unicom will have trouble handling the debt connected to the army's CDMA networks, which have been run by a company called Great Wall. Some have suggested those debts could sink the CDMA network. "Great Wall does have some debt, but the debt problem can be solved," Yang said. China's plans for CDMA have been at the center of a confusing series of shifts this year in the country's telecommunications sector. After inking a deal to license CDMA from Qualcomm in February, Unicom then said in June it had shelved those plans. Executives told investors ahead of Unicom's $5.6 billion initial public offering that it would instead wait for the next generation of CDMA, so-called broadband technology. Both main contenders to become the next generation standard are based on CDMA, but their compatibility with current technologies differs. WCDMA is supported by companies that use the GSM, or global system for mobile communications, standard, which dominates China and much of the rest of Asia. CDMA2000 is backed by Qualcomm and other supporters of current generation CDMA. Chinese researchers are also developing a third standard, called TDS-CDMA, with the help of a group of foreign companies including Germany's Siemens AG (G.SIE). The stakes are huge. With more than 65 million mobile phone users, China's market is second only to the U.S. in size. It is already a major revenue source for foreign equipment makers like Motorola Corp. (MOT) and Telefon AB LM Ericsson (ERICY), and could offer similar spoils to Qualcomm and others if their technology prevails. Yang and Minister of Information Industry Wu Jichuan said China has made no decisions on which standard will be used. Wu said China is waiting for one of the technologies to emerge as a global standard. "We will have to wait for the process," Wu said. "Right now neither you nor I can say for sure." -By Jason Dean, Dow Jones Newswires; 8610 6532-6652; jason.dean@dowjones.com