“After years of delays, the Chinese government said late Wednesday that it would issue licenses for next generation 3G wireless services, which could fuel growth in what is already the world’s biggest market for wireless services,” David Barboza reports for The New York Times.
“China’s State Council, or Cabinet, made the announcement on its Web site saying the government would back three standards, including one chiefly developed in China,” Barboza reports. “The move, which has been expected for much of the year, is significant because it opens the way for cellphone users here to have faster downloads of video, data and Web-browsing services, and for telecommunications companies to charge more for their high-speed services.”
MacDailyNews Take: iPhone, bitch!
Barboza continues, “China said it would issue licenses for each of the three major standards, the home-grown TD-SCDMA standard, as well as two international 3G standards that are favored in the United States and Europe.”
“The country now has more than 600 million cellphone subscribers, by far the largest number in the world, and there is fierce competition among international companies to capture market share,” Barboza reports. “By some estimates, China could have 150 million 3G cellphone subscribers by 2010, which would mean bigger revenues and profits for mobile operators.”
Barboza reports, “The government did not announce which Chinese wireless services companies would get which licenses.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “KenC” for the heads up.]