Siemens and Nokia: China TD-SCDMA Parterships
-> Siemens and Huawei (TD Tech)
-> Nokia and China Putian (Potevio)
Will both of these survive the Nokia Siemens Networks merger?
>> China's Huawei Rules Out TD-SCDMA Development Independent of Siemens
Leonora Walet
AFX News Limited
12.05.06
forbes.com
China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd has ruled out breaking its partnership with Siemens AG of Germany in the development of the mainland's homegrown TD-SCDMA 3G mobile phone standard.
Guo Ping, Huawei's executive vice president and president of the company's terminals business group, made the statement in reaction to speculation that the company may undertake 3G development alone after it raised 882 mln usd by selling its shares in H3C, its joint venture with US company 3Com (nasdaq: COMS).
'TD-SCDMA infrastructure is not provided by Huawei, but it is provided by (the) Siemens (nyse: SI) and Huawei joint venture. All TD-SCDMA infrastructure and capabilities were injected into the joint venture, so in that way neither Huawei nor Siemens has its own capabilities,' Guo said.
He said that the parties have also agreed not to compete with the joint venture in that area.
'(What) we have is a marriage for the TD-SCDMA, so nobody can compete with each other,' said Guo.
Huawei, a member of the TD-SCDMA Industry Alliance set up in 2002 to support the homegrown standard, formed a 100 mln usd joint venture with Siemens in 2004 to enhance cooperation and develop TD-SCDMA. The Chinese company holds 49 pct stake in the joint venture. ###
>> TD Tech Reveals Ambitious Target
Yi Tou
China Daily; North American ed.
2006-12-03
tinyurl.com
TD Tech Ltd, a joint venture between Siemens and China's Huawei Technologies, is aggressively beefing up its marketing capabilities with the aim of becoming the top vendor of 3G (third generation) mobile infrastructure based on TD-SCDMA, a Chinese home-grown standard.
This marks a major shift in the business priorities of TD Tech and underlines the increasing momentum TD-SCDMA is gaining.
TD Tech, a 51-49 per cent joint venture between Siemens and Huawei with a total investment of US$100 million, has mainly focused on technology development of TD-SCDMA.
The shift to marketing points to the increasing maturity of TD- SCDMA, said Klaus Maler, chief executive officer (CEO) of TD Tech.
"We have started paying more attention to marketing. And since the beginning of this year, we have doubled our sales force," he said in an interview with China Daily.
"Also we have invested a lot in our service organization (to support operators after the 3G market is initiated)."
TD-SCDMA competes with WCDMA, which prevails in Europe, as well as CDMA 2000, which is popular in North America, Japan and the Republic of Korea.
Unlike WCDMA and CDMA 2000, TD-SCDMA has yet to be commercially deployed, as it is less mature than the other two standards.
But a slew of tests, pioneered by the Chinese Government, have proved "TD-SCDMA is fully capable of meeting operators' demands," said Maler.
"TD-SCDMA has made great achievements (in technology maturity) in the past two years. The prospects are quite positive. We see it as a very good alternative to 3G technologies."
The Chinese Government has held off 3G licensing in the past few yeas, which has given developers of TD-SCDMA more time to catch up.
Such efforts seem to have paid off. In the past few months, backers of the technology said the reliability of TD-SCDMA has significantly improved.
Currently, four major companies are developing TD-SCDMA network gears, including a joint venture between China's Datang Telecom and Alcatel Shanghai Bell (ASB), China's Potevio, TD Tech, as well as a tie-up between Ericsson and China's No 2 telecom equipment maker ZTE Corp.
In the last phase of network tests, TD Tech has "outperformed itself," indicated Maler.
"We believe we could deliver the best and most reliable TD-SCDMA network equipment to operators," he said.
The great momentum TD-SCDMA has gained in the past months has given backers great confidence. Some government officials and industry experts have forecast that TD-SCDMA will account for one third of the 3G market in China, which could unleash network equipment orders worth about US$30 billion, according to some industry estimates.
Rumours have been swirling that China Mobile, the world's largest cellular operator by subscribers, may be awarded a licence to build 3G networks based on TD-SCDMA. Licences based on the other two standards could be issued later, ensuring TD-SCDMA has a time advantage to grab a larger 3G market share.
That could bode well for companies like TD Tech, which have been investing huge money in research and development (R&D) activities related to TD-SCDMA.
Increasing marketing and service capability could help TD Tech grab an upper hand in the competition, noted Maler.
"I hope TD-SCDMA will grab more than one third of the 3G market," he said, adding that the government and backers need to help TD- SCDMA secure a market share in China that is enough to make a significant dent in the global market in the future.
"In the long term, I believe TD-SCDMA will play a very important role in the global telecom industry," he said.
The CEO added that the merger of the networks of Nokia and Siemens will not affect the business of TD Tech. Nokia and Siemens have agreed to combine their network businesses. The new entity, called Nokia-Siemens Networks, is scheduled to be operational on January 1.
Nokia also earlier agreed to form a joint venture with Potevio, formally known as China Putian Corp, to jointly develop TD-SCDMA technologies. The joint venture has yet to secure final approval from the Chinese Government. The forming of Nokia-Siemens Networks could add uncertainties to the joint venture, which is also competing with TD Tech. ###
>> Potevio-Nokia 3G Joint Venture Gets Preliminary Nod from Regulators
China Daily
June 02, 2006
tinyurl.com
Chinese telecoms equipment maker Potevio and Finland-based Nokia have secured preliminary approval from regulators to establish a joint venture to develop 3G (third generation) mobile communications technology.
The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said on its website that it has approved a joint venture between the two firms with an investment of 900 million yuan (US$112 million).
Potevio, formally known as China Putian Corp, will have a 51 per cent stake, with Nokia owning 49 per cent.
The joint venture will mainly manufacture and market telecoms equipment such as base stations, based on the 3G standards TD-SCDMA and WCDMA.
TD-SCDMA is a home-grown Chinese standard, while WCDMA is a widely adopted global standard.
"We are still waiting for approval from the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM)," said Tao Xiongqiang, vice-president of Potevio, in a telephone interview yesterday.
With the final green light from the MOFCOM, the joint venture will begin building a plant in Wuhan, capital of Central China's Hubei Province.
"We hope the plant will be operational before the end of this year," said Tao, who is also the chairman of the joint venture.
Potevio and Nokia said they would establish the joint venture last October. Under the deal, all products will use the Potevio brand, owned by Putian.
In 2004, Potevio and Canadian communications giant Nortel Networks signed a memorandum of understanding for a similar joint venture.
But the planned venture was later dissolved, with Nokia replacing Nortel.
Prior to Nokia, Alcatel, Siemens and Ericsson have also set up joint ventures and strategic alliances with local firms to develop TD-SCDMA.
TD-SCDMA remains an unproven technology as it is not yet in commercial use.
Tang Ruan, president of Datang Mobile, the major developer of TD-SCDMA, said increasing interest from foreign giants will help speed up the commercial deployment of the Chinese technology.
And "now some overseas cellular operators are also showing interest in TD-SCDMA," he told China Daily.
France Telecom in May joined an industry alliance promoting TD-SCDMA technology as the first overseas operator.
Currently, China Telecom, China Mobile and China Netcom, three of China's top four telephone carriers, are testing TD-SCDMA in three cities.
So far, the ongoing trials have been "basically smooth," Tao said.
It is widely anticipated that Chinese regulators will not award operators with 3G licences until the TD-SCDMA trials are completed.
With strong support from the Chinese Government, TD-SCDMA is expected to take a large share of the future 3G market as much as one-third, according to some industry executives and analysts.
The build-out of 3G networks in the country is expected to cost hundreds of billions of US dollars. ###
- Eric - |
