On February 18, Zhang Ping, a professor with the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications (BUPT) revealed that the Chinese government would soon begin to develop 4G mobile technology and go into top gear. This development is a very important part of China's "next generation of broadband wireless communications networks" building plan. He also disclosed that authorities attach great importance to 4G technology development and that they are willing to spend 70 to 80 billion yuan (9,779 to 11,176 million US dollars) on it, with over 20 billion yuan from fiscal revenues and more than 50 billion yuan from corporate investments.     

From 2001 to 2006, led by the 863 Communications Technology Department under the Ministry of Science and Technology, several higher education institutions collaborated in order to build China's first 4G network in Shanghai. The network was an experiment and it cost more than 100 million yuan. Later China began to consider launching large-scale research on 4G technology after getting a clear idea of how to advance TD-SCDMA, the country's self-developed 3G standard to 4G. During an executive meeting of the State Council hosted by Premier Wen Jiabao on December 26, 2007, three key plans were viewed and passed in principle. One of them was the "next generation of broadband wireless communications networks" building plan.

For more details, please read the full story in Chinese. (http://www.china-cbn.com/s/n/000004/20080219/020000071397.shtml)

(China.org.cn February 19, 2008)