The Chinese TD-SCDMA 3G standard is bidding to become a leading technology for wireless deployment around the world, despite being a latecomer to the market.
“TD-SCDMA is not just a business for China, it’s a business for the world,” said Wang Jing, general manager of the TD-SCDMA Forum, speaking at the 3GSM World Congress. “There will definitely be a market in China, but it doesn’t stop there.”
TD-SCDMA, along with Europe’s W-CDMA and the US CDMA2000, have all been approved by the ITU as 3G standards. The Chinese government recently officially declared TD-SCDMA as its national 3G standard, and is expected to be rolled out commercially later this year.
“The technology has been fully tested and is undergoing a large technical trial which is a prelude to full-scale deployment,” said Jing. “It’s anticipated not only by China, but also by multinational companies.”
The technology is already moving outside China, with Romania starting testing in November 2005.
Amrish Kacker, senior consultant at Analysys, believes TD-SCDMA could use cost to its advantage.
“There’s a sufficient number of Asian and African countries which have not yet thought about 3G that could potentially adopt something like this,” said Kacker.
“The reason being it could be ensured that licensing is a bit more relaxed than what vendors have for W-CDMA. And because of the high Chinese labour cost component then, potentially, the equipment could be fairly cheap and competitive.”
Kacker said TD-SCDMA is unlikely to make headway in places such as Europe where there are already established networks or the branding is important. “It’s for developing countries – countries which tend to be far more cost-sensitive.”
TD-SCDMA terminals are expected to be available in the second half of this year and tri-mode TD-SCDMA/W-CDMA/GSM phones are being developed.
www.analysys.com
www.tdscdma-forum.org