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China Unicom Confirms Adoption of 3G CDMA system
China Unicom, the second largest telecoms provider in China, has confirmed it would use cdma20001x, the third generation CDMA system developed by US digital wireless company Qualcomm Inc.
Yang Xianzu, chairman and chief executive officer of China Unicom, on Monday told a news conference in Hong Kong via video link-up from London that his company would use Qualcomm's CDMA, or code division multiple access, for next generation systems and the trials would begin next year.
China Unicom's confirmation on the use of CDMA technology came after some reports that the company had decided to scrap plans to use off-the-shelf CDMA technology, opting instead to stick with its present GSM system.
China Unicom, which has been solely authorized by the State Council to construct and operate a CDMA network in China, reached a deal in February with Qualcomm to build a CDMA network that is said to be able to support 10 million subscribers by the end of the year.
But a string of construction delays reportedly caused doubts about the cost and timing to deploy a new mobile telecommunications network nationwide.
Some industrial experts also hold that since cdma2000 1x third generation technology is going to be commercially available as early as the end of this year, starting in south Korea, it may be possible for Unicom to leapfrog to the third generation technology.
Experts attending a CDMA mobile technology conference in Hong Kong said Tuesday China Unicom's adoption of 3G CDMA system would spur China's CDMA development and benefit China's equipment manufacturers as well.
CDMA industry experts maintain that current generation IS-95 systems enjoy a true smooth migration to cdma2000 1x and could allow Unicom to begin with cost-effective high capacity and high quality systems to help the company compete with China mobile.
Qualcomm, which is seeking expansion in China by focusing on local production, recently has signed research and development deals with eight leading Chinese equipment manufacturers.
As licensees of Qualcomm, those companies are expected to develop CDMA handset and infrastructure prototypes based on IS-95 A/B and 3G 1X cdma20001x standard.
Compared with second generation GSM and CDMA network, the 3G Telecom system, which is likely to be commercialized by year end, will enable much faster wireless transfer rate than the current systems for things such as video images and other multimedia.
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