HTC To Make One 3G Phone For China Mobile This Year; Five In 2010

China Mobile

China Mobile may be the world’s largest carrier, but it is having a hard time sourcing handsets for its 3G network, which uses a specialized homegrown technology as mandated by the government. Today, it signed a deal with Taiwan-based HTC, which will launch at least one model in China this year and at least five in 2010, Reuters reports.

For handset makers, it’s got to be a tough decision: On the downside, they’ll have to support TD-SCDMA, a technology no other carrier in the world uses, but on the plus side, you’ll be selling devices via China Mobile, which adds more than 15 million subscribers every three months. By the end of next year, China Mobile hopes hopes to have between 50 million and 80 million 3G subscribers. For HTC, which makes primarily Android and Windows Mobile phones, the deal could be lucrative.

China Mobile Chairman Wang Jianzhou told reporters at a news conference: “The problem we have is not the 3G network, but rather a lack of cellphones that can support it.” He added that he expects the number of 3G-capable phone models being sold by the firm to quadruple to more than 200 by the middle of 2010.

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