China’s efforts to develop a high-speed telecoms technology that could compete with Western standards in the world’s biggest mobile market have taken a step forward with the first compatible phone. A Chinese university said yesterday it had developed a telephone for the home-grown standard known as TD-SCDMA, a milestone that could help decide when third-generation mobile licences are introduced in the country.
About 500 million Chinese people, or one out of every three Chinese, will own a mobile phone by the end of 2007, a latest industry research report said. As China’s mobile phone penetration grows to one-third from the current 18 percent, the value of the telecommunication-related market will reach 520 billion yuan (US$62.65 billion) in 2007, said CCID Consulting Co Ltd, a Hong Kong-listed information industry-consulting firm, in its report.
Yang Zhiqiang, deputy general manager of the Technical Department of China Mobile, said as the whole market is not ready for 3G in China, China Mobile will also watch carefully on the development of the three standards. “We believe WCDMA will be the best 3G technology standard form GSM as it enables smooth network migration and support 3G services at the lowest cost through scale efficiency,” she said.
HI Corporation and Bandai Networks announced that the companies began supplying the popular Japanese Java game series “3D Appli Selection” on September 22 to “Super i-style”, the mobile internet service instituted by Taiwan’s mobile phone carrier, Far EasTone Telecommunications. These are the first 3D games to debut on Super i-style. The initial lineup of three 3D mobile games, “3D Darts,” “3D Bass Fishing,” and “3D Boxing” will be supplied.
LG Electronics will market new folder-type camera phones featuring a 180-degree horizontally rotating folder with LCD display, 64-chord multi-tone ring, an imbedded antenna and a digital camera with a resolution of 300,000 pixels. The new CYON digital camera phones, LG-SD210, LG-KP2100 and LG-LP2100, also come with a cutting-edge continuous 31-step zoom function, LG officials said.
KDDI and Okinawa Cellular Telephone is pleased to announce that in collaboration with Asia Pacific Broadband Wireless Communications Inc. (APBW), GLOBAL PASSPORT, the global roaming service that enables customers to use their mobile phones overseas will be launched in Taiwan. With this launch of the service in Taiwan, GLOBAL PASSPORT will now cover 12 countries and regions, and approximately 73% of Japanese overseas travelers will be able to take the advantage of the roaming service.
Motorola has unveiled a PDA-phone based on the Windows operating system, giving the company a product range that now spans three major smart phone platforms. Based on Microsoft’s Smartphone 2002 software, joins other recently-launched Motorola phones using the rival Linux and Symbian operating systems. For now the phone will only be available in Hong Kong, according to a Motorola spokesman.
KDDI has announced a contract with Hutchison CAT Wireless Multimedia Ltd., a leading cellular phone carrier in Thailand, for the construction of a high-precision global positioning system (GPS). The contract is based on the gpsOne system which KDDI presently offers in Japan in cooperation with NEC as EZ NAVI, and is worth a total of approximately 1 billion yen. In constructing the new system, KDDI will cooperate with Snap Track, Inc., regarding the gpsOne system license and technological support.
NetVillage will collaborate with China Trust Tai-He Digitech Hangzhou (CTTH) to provide content to C-mode PHS services offered by China Telecom and China Netcom. There are about 20 million PHS users in China, and the number is expected to top 26 million by year-end.
Putting its money where its mouth is, NTT DoCoMo is establishing DoCoMo Communications Laboratories Beijing Co. Ltd. to further research on fourth-generation wireless technology. The wireless communications research center will be tasked with researching the technology, as well as promoting it in Japan and China.
