On the day that reports had China’s homegrown Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA) 3G technology start trialling in Shangai (following reported trial launches last week in Beijing, Qingdao, Xiamen and Baoding) a degree of confusion reigns regarding a story that the three Chinese telecom operators had signed deals to buy 9,000 trial TD-SCDMA handsets from 15 vendors. Other sources now say the deal between China Telecom, China Mobile and China Netcom and 12 Chinese vendors - along with LG, Motorola and Samsung - is still being negotiated. There’s also the suggestion that the Beijing trial is still in the future.

Yet other reports have the Chinese authorities issuing a TD-SCDMA licence in early-ish 2007 amid speculation that the indigenous technology could get a heads-up time-wise on the other candidate 3G technologies, W-CDMA and CDMA2000. And yet other stories imply that if TD-SCDMA passes its trials with flying colours, only then will it be its nationwide use be sanctioned.

Meantime, at last month’s China Mobile Broadband Communications Leadership Seminar, the chairman of the UMTS Forum was a pains to play down any idea that W-CDMA was in competition with TD-SCDMA in the Chinese market, styling the use of both as a ‘win-win’ situation, and generally extolling the benefits of China’s adoption of W-CDMA.

The general UMTS Forum position is that TD-SCDMA allows mobile operators to use unpaired TDD spectrum for the efficient delivery of asymmetric high-speed data services such as mobile Internet, and that this provides a valuable complement to W-CDMA that is optimised for the delivery of voice and data services with wide area coverage using paired FDD spectrum.

“With fast approaching 100 million customers worldwide, W-CDMA is a mature, proven technology,” argued Jean-Pierre Bienaimé. “Chinese vendors who have already invested significantly in the global success of W-CDMA stand to benefit enormously from timely local deployment. Similarly, operators in the region can benefit from the immense success of W-CDMA to date and maximise their share of the fast growing 3G/UMTS market worldwide.”

The UMTS Forum chairman also noted that with introduction of W-CDMA, Chinese operators stand to earn significant data roaming revenues from other 3G/UMTS subscribers visiting the country. Implementation of the technology would apparently also generate IPR export opportunities for services and applications from China's development community.

Finally, Bienaimé urged China's national administration to issue 3G licenses at the earliest opportunity: “Issuing licenses no later than the first quarter of next year would enable operators to plan a phased deployment of 3G in time for 2008’s Olympic Games,” said Bienaimé. “As has already been demonstrated at high-profile sporting events like this year's football World Cup finals, there's no more powerful advertisement for the capabilities of 3G/UMTS to consumers.”

“Without 3G licences, Chinese operators will have to commit further investments to 2G and PHS technologies where there's less opportunity for future returns,” added Bienaimé. “It's vital that the Chinese nation does not fall behind other mobile markets and risk compromising its ability to capitalise on the global success of W-CDMA.”

Wonder what the CDMA Development Group (CDG) thinks? Well, actually we know. At the end of last month the CDG released a statement that CDMA2000 was expanding rapidly in China and that China would ‘…become both a benchmark and showcase for all of the advantages that CDMA2000 has to offer.’

“China is a proving ground for the very latest in wireless technology,” said Perry LaForge, executive director of the CDG. “With its unsurpassed performance and two-to-three year lead over competing technologies, CDMA2000 has emerged as the most compelling choice for operators around the globe who want to get their 3G networks up and running as soon as possible.”

So, there you have it.
John Williamson