China Ready For 3G W-CDMA

ASIA : China has a unique opportunity to extend its global leadership in the mobile industry with 3GSM services based on Wideband-CDMA – the 3G standard chosen by 85 percent of the world’s operator community - according to the GSM Association (GSMA), the global trade association for GSM mobile operators.

Inset is Rob Conway the GSM Association’s CEO who is quoted below.

The statement came during a six day visit to China by GSMA senior officials who will meet with government officials and senior decision makers to discuss 3GSM, the natural, cost-efficient choice for 3G. 3GSM builds on GSM’s unique heritage of seamless international roaming – the ability to make and receive calls using one handset and one mobile number across nearly 200 countries. Worldwide, GSM users make more than one billion roaming calls a month.

“GSM is the world’s biggest commercial cooperative – a mobile telephony eco-system. The true importance of seamless international roaming, that can only be delivered by GSM, will become increasingly apparent as WTO membership and the 2008 Beijing Olympics stimulate growth in business travel and tourism to and from China, attracting millions of new visitors,” said Rob Conway the GSM Association’s CEO and Member of its Board.

“ The global reach of GSM keeps handset, infrastructure and application costs down benefiting China’s operators and their subscribers. These economies of scale help explain why 95.5 percent of China’s 230 million subscribers use GSM. 3GSM is the natural 3G choice for China, continuing the seamless global roaming culture and sustaining scale cost benefits.”

The visit includes meetings with China’s Ministry for Information Industry (MII) where the Association will continue dialogue with key ministry officials including Minister Wang Xudong.

“ We are very pleased that MII and other Chinese ministries regard the Association as an authoritative source on developments in the mobile industry worldwide. We welcome the opportunity to share insights and to continue our dialogue,” said Conway.

The GSMA will also meet with China Mobile and China Unicom, the two largest operators in the world, long-time GSM supporters and members of the Association’s Board.

Around the world GSM momentum continues unabated, 11 3GSM networks have already been launched commercially. A second wave of at least 40 operators are expected to launch 3GSM within the next 12 months, presenting real revenue opportunities for operators, vendors and other GSM-focused companies, such as content providers and application developers.

“ Recent comments from potential operators, vendors and academics reported in the Chinese media provide evidence of momentum building behind Wideband-CDMA as the technology of choice for China.”

“ China is already a major force in global mobile communications,” said Conway. “3GSM greatly expands the opportunities for China and we appreciate the keen support of Chinese vendors and their desire to work with the world’s operators to deliver leading edge products that will compete at home and internationally,” concluded Conway.