TD-SCDMA Lags Behind

Despite strong Chinese government support and receiving a number of boosts from companies keen to operate in China the Chinese-developed 3G standard TD-SCDMA is “probably where W-CDMA was about four years ago – but without the required industry support”. The standard was supposed to be ready by mid-2005, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to be usable until at least 2006.
The Chinese government has delayed issuing 3G licenses in a bid to ensure its home-spun technology is ready, a move which has meant that firms eager to sell mobile content to the (frankly gigantic) Chinese market have been restricted to that which can be sent over 2.5G networks
According to this article one of the problems TD-SCDMA has is that not many industry players want to support it, mostly because they’ve already pumped a lot of money into other 3G standards. This is the problem, of course…China is trying to create a new standard for technology that already exists in order to reduce its reliance on foreign IP and boost its industry. That’s a good goal for any government to have, but it’s ridiculous to start from scratch against competitors that are already viable in the marketplace. China should have been developing technology for a few generations down the track and making sure it would interoperate with current standards so it is more likely to be adopted overseas.
If it’s not widely adopted the fact that 14 out of the 15 TD-SCDMA handsets are produced by Chinese companies isn’t going to mean squat, especially since most reports out of China indicate the people there have a preference for foreign handsets. Which leaves Samsung, which appears to be accomadating TD-SCDMA by releasing tri-standard phones for GSM, WCDMA and TD-SCDMA.
Related stories:
China 3G Telecoms Standard Does Poorly in Tests-Paper
3G Joint Venture in China
Agency urges State Council to issue four 3G licenses

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