3 Dec 2009 08:01

MIIT tips scales in favor of homegrown TD-SCDMA

Shanghai. December 3. INTERFAX-CHINA - Over half of the 497 network access licenses (NAL) issued since the beginning of 2009 were granted to 3G TD-SCDMA mobile devices, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) announced on Dec. 3.

Mobile devices running on China's homegrown TD-SCDMA technology received 218 NALs, of which 101 are handsets, 94 are wireless data card products and 23 are IMS (IP multimedia subsystem) devices, according to the MIIT.

The remaining 279 licenses were distributed among 145 CDMA 2000 devices, of which 76 are handsets and 69 are data card products and 134 WCDMA devices, including 90 handsets and 44 data card products.

As China's own 3G standard, TD-SCDMA has obtained more support from the government in comparison with its counterparts. On Jan. 22 the MIIT pledged its support to the development of TD-SCDMA with the announcement of a number of favorable policies.

Under such policies, the MIIT gives priority to TD-SCDMA mobile terminals in the case of NAL allocation, and subsidizes TD-SCDMA hardware and devices manufacturers.

The MIIT began distributing its mandatory NAL, which allows approved mobile devices to access 3G networks, on Jan. 7.

-HJL