3G Licensing Plans Settled, No Timetable Given
Shanghai Securities News, 5/28/08
An official from China's State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) has indicated that the overall direction for issuing 3G licenses once the telecom industry restructuring is complete has been settled, with China Mobile (NYSE: CHL; 0941.HK) operating a TD-SCDMA network, the new China Telecom (NYSE: CHA; 0728.HK) building a CDMA2000 network on the basis of its acquired CDMA business, and the new China Unicom (NYSE: CHU; 0762.HK; 600050.SH) upgrading from GSM to WCDMA.
According to other rumors, China Mobile may be the lead operator of TD-SCDMA in the future, with the other two operators also using the standard. If China Mobile is not the only TD-SCDMA operator and other TD-SCDMA licenses are issued, China Mobile will also receive a WCDMA license.
However, according to an informed source, China Mobile is currently in talks with China Telecom and China Netcom (NYSE: CN; 0906.HK) over acquiring their trial TD-SCDMA networks, and the government has made explicit its intention to throw its weight behind the standard. Given this, it is unlikely that China Mobile will be receiving a WCDMA license in the near future.
Editor's Note: According to previous reports, an insider from SASAC said that it would be better to issue TD-SCDMA licenses first, in order to set a better foundation for the home-grown standard's further development. Issuance of WCDMA and CDMA2000 licenses would then come next. Another possibility is to wait until TD-SCDMA becomes sufficiently competitive, and then issue 3G licenses to all three operators at the same time. The insider refused to reveal a timetable for the issuance of 3G licenses.
Keywords: 0728.HK 0762.HK 0941.HK 3G 600050.SH CDMA CDMA2000 CHA China Mobile China Netcom China Telecom China Unicom CHL CHU GSM license restructuring SASAC standard TD-SCDMA telecom timetable WCDMA wireless 0906.HK CN
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