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China Mobile in Big Push for TD NetbooksSHENZHEN, Feb 27, 2009 (SinoCast Daily Business Beat via COMTEX) -- China Mobile, the biggest mobile telecom service provider in China, is poised to go all out to push for TD Netbooks this year. It will join forces with PC makers such as HP, Dell, and Tsinghua Tongfang to market 20 models of TD Netbooks or notebook computers this March. Shen Changfu, general manager of China Mobile Chongqing, says the launch of TD Netbooks is likely to coincide with the official operation of TD 3G services in Chongqing this May. Now China Mobile Chongqing is in talks with several PC makers like HP about marking down the price of its Netbooks to below CNY 1,000, which are embedded with TD/GSM dual-mode network cards. The telecom carrier is set to sell TD Netbooks first in the flagship store chains of Suning in Shanghai in late March. Now the Chinese telecom carrier is pressing ahead with its "3+1 Solution", which is designed to promote TD mobile phones, TD network cards, TD notebook computers, and TD wireless landline telephones. To promote its TD services, this year China Mobile will subsidize TD mobile phone buyers as much as CNY 10 billion and it will bear all costs of the TD network cards that are to be installed in the TD notebook computers and Netbooks. And the TD notebooks and Netbooks will be coupled with a one-year Internet access service plan. IT market research firm Analysys International forecasts that Chinese telecom carriers will customize 1.4 million Netbooks in 2009 and bring the number to 10 million by 2013. Besides China Mobile, the other two leading wireless carriers China Telecom and China Unicom will also join the competition for the TD Netbook market. Shenzhen Uninew Embedded Software Company Limited, one of the leading chipmakers in China, has come up with TD network cards used for notebook computers. In the meanwhile, a string of PC makers are in talks with chip giant Intel to equip their PCs with TD network cards. The TD-SCDMA network of China Mobile is set to cover 95% of second-tier Chinese cities with 145,000 base stations. The second-stage of the network construction is scheduled to be completed by mid 2009. By that time, TD network of the Chinese mobile telecom operator will be expanded from ten cities to 38 cities. China Mobile has carried out feasibility study of network construction as the second-stage project is coming to an end and it has worked out network construction plan for the 2009-2011 period. (USD 1 = CNY 6.84) Source: dycj.ynet.com (February 27, 2009) |