The Chinese Government reiterated yesterday that it would spare no effort to build a sound business environment to attract more home and overseas companies into the country's telecom industry.

The message was sent out at the ongoing PT/Expo Comm China 2004, the largest telecom event in Asia, running from yesterday to Saturday in Beijing.

"We welcome more overseas investors to come to China to participate in China's telecom industry by setting up manufacturing bases, research and development centers as well as transferring technologies," Vice-Minister Xi Guohua of the Ministry of Information Industry (MII) said at yesterday's opening ceremony.

"We will keep our commitment to the WTO rules and related laws and regulations to protect investors and create a sound policy environment," he said.

Emphasizing that developing the industry is a two-way process, the minister said: "We encourage those competitive domestic telecom enterprises to go overseas.

"We especially hope telecom operators and telecom equipment providers can come together to compete internationally to form competitive Chinese multinational companies."

The telecom industry has witnessed an explosion in development during the past decade. Figures from the ministry revealed that the number of new telephone subscribers stood at 90 million year-on-year.

And by the end of September more than 626 million telephone subscribers had registered, of which 320 million were over mobile subscribers.

For its part the telecom industry has achieved a revenue of 386.2 billion yuan (US$46.5 billion).

"We will closely follow the developing trend of world telecom technologies and enhance our focus on the development and application of those new and advanced technologies such as IP, wireless and broadband technologies," Xi said.

With the fast development of China's telecom market, "we see lots of opportunities and great potential in the Chinese market," said Kathy Maclean, president of Canadian Aprel Laboratories, which provides expert services and instrumentation systems to the wireless telecommunications industry and government.

Aprel, she said, is currently in contact with the Chinese Academy for Telecommunications Research looking for further co-operation opportunities.

Three other business delegations organized by the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance to join the event are TMTC, TelcoBridges Inc and Kallastra.

Sources from the organizing committee for the PT/Expo Comm China 2004 said the event has so far attracted more than 600 delegations from 23 countries and regions.

Despite the wide speculation that the Chinese Government is to roll out its strategies for the third generation (3G) of wireless telecommunications next year, the Chinese Government reaffirmed yesterday that it will adopt a cautious approach to ensure the smooth development of the industry in China.

"We will continue to closely watch the development of the three 3G standards and map out a suitable strategy accordingly," said Zhang Xinsheng, deputy director-general of the Science and Technology Department of the MII.

The three 3G standards include the European-based WCDMA (wideband code division multiple access), the US-based CDMA 2000 and the homegrown TD-SCDMA. Currently, the MII is leading an experimental test on all the 3G standards.

Organized by the 3G TEG (China 3G Technical Trial Expert Group) and RITT (Research Institute of Telecommunications Transmission) under the China Academy of Telecommunications Research with the MII, the test results will serve as a reference for the Chinese Government to release its 3G licences.

The results are expected to be released early next month.

Nevertheless, Zhang also pledged yesterday that the government will continue to support domestic development as it has now become a world focus thanks to its rapid development over the past two years.

TD-SCDMA is the most advanced solution for mobile operators with unpaired frequency bands.

According to the TD-SCDMA Alliance, an organization dedicated to the promotion of the standard, the industrial chain for the 3G standard has already been formed including system networks, chips and handsets.

"To enhance international co-operation will be an effective way to further promote the standard," said Xu Qin, deputy director-general of the Department of High and New Technology and Industrialization under the National Development and Reform Commission at yesterday's TD-SCDMA Industry Summit 2004, a sub event of the PT/Expo Comm China 2004.

(China Daily October 27, 2004)