Four field trial test networks for TD-SCDMA (time division synchronous code division multiple access), the home grown third generation (3G) of wireless telecommunications standard, will undergo construction at the end of this month in Beijing and Shanghai, sources said.

Analysts believe it could be a signal indicating that the Chinese Government is speeding up its trial tests on all 3G related standards in China so as to roll out its 3G licenses early next year.

This was echoed on Saturday by an agreement reached by members of the TD-SCDMA Alliance in Shanghai.

According to the alliance, the core network and access equipment for field trial test networks in Shanghai will be mainly provided by Datang Mobile Communications Equipment Co Ltd (Datang Mobile) and ZTE Corp, while facilities in Beijing will be provided by Datang Mobile, China Putian Corp and Nortel Networks.

All those facilities will be ready as of April 20.

"Two trial test networks in Shanghai will be constructed by China Telecom and China Satcom and the other two in Beijing by China Netcom and China Railcom," said Yang Hua, secretary-general of the TD-SCDMA Alliance dedicated to promoting the standard.

TD-SCDMA, the homegrown standard, is the only standard that has been adopted by all the six major domestic telecom operators as they consider 3G technology.

Both China Mobile and China Unicom are reportedly set to build a TD-SCDMA testing network in May.

Sources said the trial test networks run by China Mobile and China Unicom will be provided by Huawei Technologies and Siemens.

According to Yang, the test will be 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 Ministry of Information Industry (MII), who are responsible for testing equipment, terminals and systems for all three 3G standards, including European-backed Wideband CDMA, US-based Qualcomm Corp's CDMA2000 and China's TD-SCDMA.

According to the MII's blueprint, the field trial test for TD-SCDMA is set for May 20 and will finish at the end of September.

Reliable sources said that China will likely finish its testing of all 3G-related technologies this year, which may result in 3G licences being issued early next year.

"The trial test is a process enabling us to find and digest problems to ensure the success of the technology," said Yang.

"In the past year, we've seen accelerated development of our TD-SCDMA technology."

Last week, Datang Mobile announced the launch of the first TD-SCDMA handset, DTM8001.

The new handset features high speed data transmission of 144 kilobits per second, video telephone, multiple media services and location based services.

"The advent of the terminal is a breakthrough as far as the TD-SCDMA handset is concerned," Yang said.

He said more and more handset makers are manufacturing handsets supporting the TD-SCDMA system.

Sources from Datang Mobile said there are more than 10 terminal makers producing TD-SCDMA phones.

"We are going to launch two new TD-SCDMA handsets at the end of this year," said an official with Datang Mobile, who refused to be named.

As one of the internationally recognized 3G standards, the Chinese Government has allocated 155MHZ frequency resources to support the domestic standard.

Last year, the government spent a total of 600 million yuan (US$72 million) to boost the standard.

(China Daily April 6, 2004)