TMCnet News
China Telecom to Offer 3G Services and IPTV through Partnership with Shanghai MediaTMCnet Contributing Editor China Telecom has announced it plan to offer 3G services about seven or eight months after receiving its 3G license, based on trials of the 3G standard TD-SCDMA. The operator has built 70 stations to undergo TD-SCDMA tests in Baoding, ebei Province, in northern China.
The TD-SCDMA home-grown 3G standard is being used to build out the national 3G network. China Telecom, as well as China Mobile and China Unicom, have been authorized to conduct trials on the mainland using the standard. China Telecom is looking for non-voice services like IPTV (News - Alert) and broadband Internet to drive growth, and has been working with Shanghai Media Group on jointly test running IPTV services in Shanghai since late 2005. The State Administration of Radio Film and Television issued the first IPTV license to Shanghai Media last May. “The construction of the remaining 30 stations there will be finished at the end of this month,” said Wang Xiaochu, chairman of China Telecom. “We will then start our TD-SCDMA trial-run at 100 stations and the final test results should come out soon.” “There are only two mobile operators on the mainland it's too few,” said Wang. “Our strong capital and complete network allow us to provide wireless services without any problem. We expect to get our license (3G license) soon because, unlike fixed-line, we will need a longer time to improve and optimize its mobile network.” -------- Laura Stotler writes about IP Communications and related topics for TMCnet. She has covered VoIP and related technologies for seven years, contributing to Internet Telephony magazine and TMCnet, and as a freelance writer. To see more articles, please visit: Laura Stotler’s columnist page. |