An insider in Beijing confirmed that the Ministry of the Information Industry would grant licenses for the third generation (3G) services before the end of this year. Shenzhen will be one of the cities to first commence 3G operations. 3G operators would start full construction of their experimental commercial service network beginning next month.

At present, Guangdong Mobile is quietly expanding its essentially 3G EDGE commercial network coverage to Shenzhen and it is poised to start commercial operations.

The insider in Beijing revealed that the Ministry of the Information Industry had asked all 3G operators to get ready for the last commercial test. All operators who have passed the test will qualify for official network construction. In March 2005, construction of the experimental networks for commercial services will start in full. The commercial test is widely regarded by industry insiders as the prelude to granting 3G licenses.

According to the Ministry of Information Industry, six basic telecom operators, including China Mobile, Unicom, Telecom, Netcom, Railcom and Satcom, will all participate in the tests. All operators are required to be tested on the domestically developed TD-SCDMA 3G standards. The tests will be sponsored jointly by the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Information Industry. They are both key departments supervising the issuance of 3G licenses.

(Chinanews.cn February 17, 2005)