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To: Eric L who wrote (1780)	12/6/2001 1:18:57 PM
From: Eric L	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9255

re: EMC on China TD-SCDMA Technical Trials >> TD-SCDMA Technical Trials Begin in Beijing David Hayes EMC Cellular December 5, 2001 Siemens and China Academy of Transmission and Telecommunications (CATT) in Beijing jointly launched a TD-SCDMA technical trial in the CATT campus in Beijing on 1 October 2001. The trial is being run under the authority of the Ministry of Information Industry (MII) which was the driving force behind getting TD-SCDMA approved as an official 3G standard by the ITU in May 2000. Siemens and CATT have supplied three single base stations using smart antennae functionality for the trial for which a small number of TD-SCDMA terminals are being used. The terminals have been designed by Siemens and CATT for technical trial purposes only and are not prototype handportables. CATT will supply smaller sized terminals for the trial before the end of 2001 though it has not been revealed whether these will be similar in size to commercial cellular handsets. The technical trial launch follows the completion of the first TD-SCDMA voice call in Beijing earlier in April 2001. The first TD-SCDMA video call was made three months later in July, also in Beijing. No timescale has been announced for the TD-SCDMA technical trial. MII is expected to decide when the trial has been completed. In fact, the trial is being conducted in two phases. Following evaluation of the ongoing technical trial, pre-commercial trials are planned which will involve Chinese cellular operators. Siemens and CATT are hopeful that commercialisation of TD-SCDMA technology could begin by the end of 2002 allowing the roll-out of the first TD-SCDMA network to begin in 2003. Four Chinese telecommunications companies are expected to become involved in the TD-SCDMA trial in 2002 depending on Chinese government approval and any impact from the expected re-organisation of the telecommunications sector. Apart from the two existing cellular operators, China Mobile and China Unicom, the government is expected to create two new mobile and fixed line operators by breaking China Telecom up into two. Both China Telecom North and China Telecom South are expected to receive 3G licences and could be involved in the TD-SCDMA trials. All Chinese mobile operators are expected to carry out their own TD-SCDMA trials. Each trial is expected to involve between three to 10 base stations depending on the individual operator and are expected to take place in major cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou in Guangdong. While the TD-SCDMA trials are expected to begin on a fairly small scale, several hundred people using terminals are expected to be involved in testing each network at the later stages. Small handset size terminals are expected to be ready for the TD-SCDMA trials early in 2002. Actual prototype TD-SCDMA handsets are expected to be available soon afterwards either in mid-2002 or Q3 2002. Various companies are involved in developing TD-SCDMA handsets including CATT in Beijing, DBTel in Taiwan, Samsung in South Korea, RTX in Denmark and Texas Instruments at an undisclosed location, possibly in Europe. Siemens and Datang already are collaborating to produce TD-SCDMA base stations. Alcatel recently has said it will undertake development work on TD-SCDMA base stations at its Shanghai plant. While all operators are expected to trial TD-SCDMA, the identity of the mobile operators who will propagate TD-SCDMA will depend on the government's ongoing review of the development of the cellular and telecommunications sector. The government already has taken a long time in its deliberations which suggests that the results will not be announced in a hurry. Commentators believe the Chinese government is waiting for TD-SCDMA technology to be technically proven and developed as China's own 3G technology before deciding which 3G standards will be used in China and finalising the award of 3G licences. One practical difficulty will be deciding when TD-SCDMA can be regarded as proven. Cellular equipment suppliers believe that TD-SCDMA technology will be proven gradually rather than endorsed with a sudden announcement. The government already has announced that any operator carrying out a W-CDMA or cdma2000 trial will also have to run a TD-SCDMA trial. This means that all actual or potential 3G operators will have to run TD-SCDMA trials ensuring the technology has the widest possible chance of success. In fact, the government still has to cope with the issue of frequency allocation before awarding 3G licences. Frequency allocation has yet to be completed leaving the final award of licences a matter of conjecture. One possibility is that one or two operators will be awarded only TD-SCDMA licences while other operators will receive 3G licences for other standards. TD-SCDMA licences. Another possibility is that more than one operator will receive a TD-SCDMA licence, though possibly in conjunction with a licence for another 3G technology standard. China Mobile already has said it is considering operating both W-CDMA and TD-SCDMA networks, and would reserve the TD-SCDMA service for specialised applications. << - Eric -