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.
