Shanghai. December 31. INTERFAX-CHINA - China's long-awaited 3G licenses will be issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) tonight, a source from a telecom equipment company told Interfax on Dec. 31, giving the green light to the country's three telecom operators to start commercial 3G operations.
According to the source, who wished to remain anonymous, the State Council, the chief administrative body of the Chinese government, decided at a meeting on Dec. 31 to release the licenses on the same day. China Mobile will be issued with a TD-SCDMA license, China Unicom with a WCDMA license and China Telecom with a CDMA2000 license.
MIIT had previously stated that 3G licenses would be issued around the end of 2008.
"The release of 3G licenses has been awaited for several years," Yu Zhoujun, an analyst with CCID Consulting, said. "The move will boost China's telecom service operation sector, the telecom equipment sector and the telecom terminal sector, and spur market demand."
The arrival of 3G services in China will make mobile phones an ideal complement for Dianping.com's Web 2.0 site, its CEO tells Interfax.
Lack of available real estate, climbing rents and public opposition are hindering telecom operators in their search for appropriate base station sites across first-tier cities in China.
