China's Unicom is expected to provide nationwide mobile communications services via a CDMA cellular network by next summer to give China's mobile phone customers an alternative to the GSM system, Business Weekly of China Daily reported on December 12.

The paper quoted company officials as saying that the installation of the CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) network will begin early next year.

According to Tan Xinghui, general manager of China Unicom's planning and marketing department, the company is evaluating bids made on projects by 12 domestic and foreign telecom companies which could produce equipment based on the CDMA mobile system.

Foreign suppliers engaged in joint ventures with CDMA manufacturing capabilities in China will get priority in the bidding, said Lu Jianguo, vice-president of China Unicom.

The company announced earlier this year plans to invest 7 billion yuan (843 million US dollars) to establish a nationwide CDMA network with an initial capacity of 2 million lines. The construction plan, however, has been delayed.

Unicom was recently authorized by the State Council to be the sole negotiator dealing with CDMA-related matters ranging from intellectual property rights purchases and joint venture proposals, according to Lu.

The network construction will provide domestic and foreign telecom equipment manufacturers with a wide market. So far, Nortel Networks and Motorola have formal CDMA joint ventures in China. Lucent also has the capability in its local joint venture. (Xinhua)