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

To: foundation who wrote (31092)	1/13/2003 7:25:04 AM
From: foundation	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 196603

Beijing dampens 3G hopes The telecoms regulator has sparked confusion after it refuted comments by an official that licences will be issued this year South China Morning Post January 13, 2003 Christine Chan China's telecommunications regulator was quick to refute comments by a senior official yesterday that third-generation (3G) licences would be issued this year. The Ministry of Information Industry (MII), however, declined to clarify the remarks by Ma Min, a divisional head in its technology department, other than saying the reports were "inaccurate". Analysts dubbed the confusion "strategic ambiguity", further clouding the status of 3G technology in the world's largest market. Reports over the weekend quoted the MII's Mr Ma as saying China would probably issue 3G licences this year. MII spokesman Wang Lijian said "these reports were inaccurate". He did not say whether this referred to the timing or the way the information was disclosed. Outgoing MII chief Wu Jichuan signalled the delay of 3G technology in China late last year. The technology had yet to be proven commercially viable anywhere in the world. But Mr Wang declined to say yesterday whether China would delay 3G until next year. "I have already said what I need to. What you are asking is your interpretation." MII was notably swift to address Mr Ma's comments - a change from its usual tardiness over a number of controversial issues, including one-way billing and increasing interconnection fees. Jacky Yung, spokesman for China Mobile, the mainland's No 1 mobile operator, said: "We welcome the prompt clarification from MII." However, some executives said the clarification was far from conclusive. One telecoms official said: "What we instead want to see is a more clear-cut statement. That the launch will happen this year, or it will not happen this year." Duncan Clark, managing director of BDA China, a Beijing-based telecoms technology, and consulting and research firm, yesterday said MII was being "strategically ambiguous" on the new wireless technology. "Beijing wants to keep their options open and ambiguous so they will not want to commit to a schedule," he told the South China Morning Post. "In China, no bureaucrats want to make very risky commercial decisions that will have negative impact on the stock market in this environment, where China Telecom listed in Hong Kong has fallen quite far below its issue price." Expected personnel and government reshuffles in the forthcoming National People's Congress in March also added to the uncertainty. Mr Clark said recent speculation was the 3G technology would probably be launched in China from the end of this year and the middle of next year. "One of the things we heard is that there may not be obligations attached to these licences by the carriers to deploy, unlike the rules elsewhere you will use it or lose it. That's quite a big difference. Ordering a carrier to go ahead with the deployment and saying to the carrier when you feel the time is right you have the right to go ahead and deploy the network."