China plans 3G commercial trials in 8 cities: report
SHANGHAI (Reuters) - The parent of China Mobile (0941.HK), the country's top wireless operator, will start commercial trials of a homegrown third-generation wireless standard, TD-SCDMA, in eight cities on April 1, state media said on Friday.
Shares in several Hong Kong-listed equipment vendors, including China Communications Services Corp Ltd (0552.HK) and China Wireless Technologies Ltd (2369.HK), rose on Friday, as investors anticipate heavy spending on telecoms gear.
The commercial trials will help to improve TD-SCDMA technology, as well as provide better mobile services during the Beijing Olympics, the Xinhua news agency said on its Web site www.xinhuanet.com.
They will also help to enhance the maturity of China's telecoms sector and improve the future competitiveness of the country's 3G sector, Xinhua added.
TD-SCDMA stands for time division synchronous code division multiple access.
The eight cities chosen for the trials are Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Shenyang, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Xiamen and Qinhuangdao.
Shares in China Communications Services rose 6.6 percent on Friday, while China Wireless Technologies jumped 8.2 percent and Comba Telecom Systems Holdings Ltd (2342.HK) rose 7.5 percent, versus a 2.7 percent rise in Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng Index .HSI.
Lenovo Group (0992.HK) rose 3.5 percent.
Official broadcaster CCTV said earlier this month that the homegrown 3G standard looked ready for commercial use at the Beijing Olympics after network trials went off without a hitch.
China has promised to offer broadband-grade Web quality via mobile devices for visitors to the Olympics but the issuance of 3G licenses has been delayed.
Beijing has conducted pre-commercial trials of its locally developed TD-SCDMA standard in 10 cities, including those which will host Olympic events.
Analysts also expect the better-established W-CDMA and CDMA2000 standards for 3G to be launched in China alongside TD-SCDMA, although the timing is not yet known. (Reporting by Sophie Taylor; Editing by Edmund Klamann)
