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TechnologyDaily Mobile
China Moves Toward Mobile Standard
by Winter Casey
China is getting closer to deploying its long-anticipated cellular technology standard, the time division-synchronous code division multiple access, or TD-SCDMA. Observers expect the government to award licenses for the technology soon because they want to have it in place by the August 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
China has waited to officially approve the rollout of any other third-generation mobile technology, or 3G, while it has worked on stabilizing TD-SCDMA. Multiple sources from industry and government expect China to issue three to six licenses for 3G technology by early 2007 at the latest. According to a report by the Development Research Center of the State Council of China, the commercial use of 3G will start in 2006.
The International Telecommunications Union has approved five radio interfaces for 3G under the global standard known as IMT-2000. The approved mobile technologies include CDMA 2000, CDMA wideband, DECT, EDGE and TD-SCDMA.
James Person, Asia-Pacific chief operating officer for the CDMA Development Group, said the United States supports mobile technology neutrality in China. He said China Unicom operates on 3G but cannot officially call it by that name.
"We have been advocating for early licensing for a long time," Person said. He added that it is difficult to develop a new technology and the Chinese standard has been late to market, which means less opportunities and more difficulty in selling it.
Most implications point to the Chinese standard being ready, he said.
The government has been testing TD-SCDMA in real networks in five cities while the mobile services company Argogroup has deployed a management platform to allow Chinese operators to monitor the tests of TD-SCDMA.
The majority of Chinese and international companies have requested that the government begin issuing licenses, Person said. The delay in the standard has hurt some companies, he noted.
Last year, the CDMA Development Group announced that it had signed an agreement with the TD-SCDMA Forum to develop joint market opportunities for CDMA 2000 and TD-SCDMA.
"The market in China is immense," Thomas Renz, a senior vice president at Argogroup, said in a statement. "With network subscriber numbers now topping 400 million, it has been predicted that TD-SCDMA-based mobile communications will bring China's 3G equipment and related product makers [nearly $62.7 billion]."
Analysys International, an IT consulting firm, predicted in July that China's 3G subscriber base will reach 270 million by 2011.
SK Telecom, the largest telecommunications carrier in South Korea and currently a CDMA 2000 operator, announced last month that it has invested $1 billion in China Unicom. China Telecom, which uses CDMA 2000, is said to have signed agreements with various service providers for 3G services. One scenario, according to Person, is that China Telecom's deployment of CDMA 2000 becomes legalized.
The Chinese state-run media reports that the nation's telecom players will meet Aug. 10-11 to discuss 3G standards.
In other news, China said last Wednesday that it would more strictly enforce rules that outlaw unauthorized foreign investors from providing value-added telecom services, such as text messages and musical ring tones.
The country has reportedly been looking to regulate the sector. According to the Ministry of Information Industry, some unapproved foreign investors illegally use licenses granted to local companies to provide the services.
China's Rise Not A U.S. Threat, Official Says
China's global emergency should not be seen as a threat in the United States, a U.S. diplomat said in testimony last week.
"It does present challenges as well as opportunities," Thomas Christensen, the deputy assistant secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific affairs, told the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.
According to data released Tuesday from the U.S. International Trade Commission, China has continued to grow as the United States' biggest trading partner in electronics.
Also in China, state media reports that an official said that an Internet system is being developed to allow for the identification of pirated works.
Europe To Help Developing Nations Fight Piracy
The European Union plans to offer technical assistance to developing countries in order to support intellectual property rights.
The assistance, which is coordinated by the EuropeAid Cooperation Office, typically focuses on helping regions and countries complete the legal frameworks to protect intellectual property and facilitate the implementation of international IP obligations. The assistance also looks to improve the enforcement of IP rights and raise awareness of its importance.
In other European news, EU investment in research currently comprises less than 2 percent of the area's gross domestic product, which officials said is not enough. The European Union last week issued a statement outlining its progress, as well as current initiatives to increase the percentage to 3 percent, or the EU's 2002 goal.
In the United States, 2.5 percent of the nation's GDP is spent on research, and more than 3 percent in Japan goes toward research.
The European Union also released a roadmap for innovation drafted by government ministers in charge of competitiveness policy during an informal July meeting.
Mauri Pekkarinen, Finland's trade and industry minister, said the ingredients of the EU strategy could be grouped under creating a solid legislative and regulatory framework, financing innovation and fostering institutional partnerships.
And the British Identity and Passport Service announced at the end of July that more than 1 million biometric e-passports have been issued. By the end of the summer all new British passports will be electronic.
However, the new technology also means a marked increase in fees for United Kingdom citizens.
U.S. Grad Schools Get More Foreign Students
U.S. graduate schools have accepted a huge jump in foreign students for the 2006 school year, according to research released Wednesday from the U.S. Council of Graduate Schools.
In a survey conducted by the group, schools admitted 20 percent more students from China and 28 percent more from India. However, the number admitted from the Middle East dropped by 2 percent this year. Schools also accepted 26 percent more engineers.
The majority of graduate-school deans said they believe the quality of the students that applied this year was higher than in 2005. Seventy-nine percent of graduate schools said they have taken initiatives to other nations, especially China, to improve outreach to international applicants.
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