After eight years of laboratory research, China's first homegrown third generation (3G) wireless telecom standard, the TD-SCDMA (time division synchronous code division multiple access) technology, began its commercialization process.

"China's information industry has launched a comprehensive cooperation on the development of TD-SCDMA and will achieve a new breakthrough if the standard proves profitable," said Minister Xu Guanhua of Science and Technology at the 2005 International TD-SCDMA Summit opened Tuesday.

Although Europe's WCDMA and the United States' CDMA 2000 are already on the market, Xu said China has seen rapid development inthis field.

Since TD-SCDMA chips were invented in the second half of last year, about 20 kinds of mobile phones using this standard have been designed by 14 Chinese companies. To take advantage of the standard, companies from the country's investment, business consulting and manufacturing sectors began to team up.

At the summit, well-known manufacturers including Datang Mobile, Lenovo, DBTEL Industry Company, Huawei Technologies, Qingdao Hisense Communications Co. Ltd. and Bird Ningbo Co. Ltd. set up special booths to demonstrate their latest developments.

Chairman Zhou Huan of the TD-SCDMA Forum, sponsor of the summit, said China is considering restructuring the domestic information industry to speed up the commercialization, industrialization and internationalization of TD-SCDMA.

"With the improvement of the investment environment and progress in technical innovation, the industrial chain around TD-SCDMA will come to a golden period for sure," he said.

Direct Zhao Houlin of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau of the International Telecommunication Union admitted "it is too early to tell which of the three global 3G standards was the best" because neither of the two western standards seemed to have found a big market.

"TD-SCDMA has its edge in the worldwide competition. But China must first make sure it is successful at home. Otherwise, it will only end up on shelves as technical files," he said.

More than 500 people including government officials and business representatives from home and abroad participated in the two-day summit.

Source: Xinhua