CDMA Network Formally Put Into Operation with Problems to be Alleviated

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, April 08, 2002

CDMA Network Formally Put Into Operation with Problems to be Alleviated

April 8 marks the end of the 3-months trial operation of the CDMA network of China Unicom and the date of entry into full business operation. However, when can the problem of insufficient supply and fewer types of CDMA cellular phones be solved? When can the promises by the CDMA network be honored? The reporter had an interview with Zhang Fan, general manager of the mobile phone department of the China Unicom, and Haier and Motorola, the manufacturers of the CDMA cellular phones on April 6, 2002.

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China Unicom's CDMA Network to Kick Off

April 8 marks the end of the 3-months trial operation of the CDMA network of China Unicom and the date of entry into full business operation. However, when can the problem of insufficient supply and fewer types of CDMA cellular phones be solved? When can the promises by the CDMA network be honored? The reporter had an interview with Zhang Fan, general manager of the mobile phone department of the China Unicom and Haier and Motorola, the manufacturers of the CDMA cellular phones on April 6, 2002.

Urgent procurement of 500,000 CDMA cellular phones to make ease the market demands

Shortly after the trial operation of the CDMA mobile network it incurred an insufficient supply of the CDMA cellular phone-sets due to the manufacturers' lack of confidence in the market and adopting a wait-and-see attitude. To solve the problem, China Unicom put forward an emergency measure by leasing phone-sets to users and in the meanwhile it has contracted orders with the producers for a procurement of 500,000 phone-sets.

Speaking of the progress in the procurement Zhang Fan said, "the purchase of 500,000 phone-sets is decided by the headquarters of China Unicom on discussion and is going to be carried out by Unicom Guomai Communication Co., Ltd. As an agent of mobile-phone dealers it has so far already fixed the price with manufacturers for the procurement of 500,000 phone-sets and the number of phone-sets allocated to each province has been fixed too. They will be distributed to each CDMA market through various channels."

Zhang Fan also stressed, the procurement of cellular phone-sets by China Unicom is not for the monopoly of the market. The users can make a comparison as to the prices of the phone-sets or just log into the net with the users' own phone-sets and it's not necessary to use the phone-sets as via the procurement of China Unicom.

CDMA Network Numbers Released in Beijing

Promises to be honored step by step

On last Jan.8 when the CDMA started its trial operation it made many promises. However, so far that have been honored are very few with only short news service opened to operation. Whether can the promises be honored on time after it has entered into formal operation?

"During the past three months of trial operation we've failed to honor the promises due to some subjective and objective reasons," said Zhang Fan emphatically, "they will get honored step by step when it enters into formal operation. Some preferential measures as 'users' club', 'gifts for accumulated uses' and 'transfer of phone-charges' and so on, have already been carried out in some subsidiary companies in the country. And some such problems as incurred by the incomplete charging system in the trial running period will cease to exist forever while the promises will remain as fixed service-models to be promoted in a unified way all over the country."

Nevertheless, the CDMA digital businesses won't be brought into operation once and for all. For instance, the WAP business service, though covering the whole country, remains still an operation in the six cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hangzhou, etc. after Apr.8, for the circuit digital business is available for the WAP service in these cities.

It sees an increase in the supply of cellular phone-sets

Ever since the trial running of the CDMA network one of the key problems that have roused dissatisfaction from the clients is the lack of types of phone-sets, higher prices and shortage in supply. To get to know clearly the problem the reporter made a special visit to the major CDMA cellular phone manufacturers and judging from their production plans this year will likely see an enhancement in the amount of supply and a betterment in the types of cellular phone-sets.

As revealed by the general manager of the Motorola marketing department this year it will bring out eight types of CDMA cellular phones with two types already on sale now and the other types will be put into the market based on the Unicom's price-setting policy as a whole. However, they are most likely for the users at the middle and high levels with prices set accordingly for them while paying attention to better types of phone-sets at medium and low prices.

It is planned to bring out four types of CDMA phone-sets as expressed by marketing director of Nikkei-Zhenhua, a Sino-Japanese joint venture. The second new type of phone-set will make its debut in the coming June with its price varying around RMB 3,000 yuan/per set.

In April and May the CDMA cellular phones produced by Zhongxing will make its reappearance, said Li Baoqiang, general manager of the company. The second type of CDMA is to be brought out in around April 20 and the one of higher quality in May as a supplementary to the market.

Besides, the persons concerned from Samsung, Haier and LG all said they've already had their new types of CDMA cellular phones and will be put into production and brought into the market soon.

By PD Online Staff Han Rongliang

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