Tuesday, December 07, 2004
TD-SCDMA is a go despite concerns over trials
TD-SCDMA is a go despite concerns over trials
John C. Tanner
TD-SCDMA proponents reaffirmed their support for the Chinese 3G technology on Wednesday following last week’s report of technical problems during tests.
Chen Jin-qiao, director of the Institute of Telecommunication Research, a division of the MII's China Academy of Telecommunication Research, said he was not disappointed with the results of the trial, revealed last week at a 3G conference in Beijing, in which the technology showed problems with network stability and core reliability.
“There are always problems in developing any standard,” he said following a panel session on 3G deployment strategies. “Once you commercialize it, you can deal with the problems one by one.”
Chen said he expects TD-SDMA products could see commercial launch in the second half of 2005, and that, assuming a theoretical commercial launch of all three 3G technologies by the end of next year, TD-SCDMA could account for 20% of the 3G market and 25% of revenues by 2010.
That said, he took pains to caution that it was still up to the MII, which has yet to make any final decision on a time framework for rolling out 3G in China.
“It’s not just about TD-SCDMA, it’s also about reforming the market, ensuring competitiveness and so many other complicated factors,” he said. “That’s why the Chinese government is looking at other policies to help further development.”
One possible policy under consideration is supply incentives such as tax credits to vendors developing TD-SCDMA to shorten their time cycles.
George Huang, VP of wireless networks for Greater China at Nortel Networks, said TD-SCDMA’s development would benefit by more foreign vendor participation.
“We need more people to join in to develop the technology in different areas – handsets, chipsets and test equipment,” he said. “We need more heavyweights. We’re happy to see Alcatel come in. We’d like to see more come in.”
Huang said press reports that the MII trials showed TD-SCDMA was well behind W-CDMA and cdma2000 “should be no surprise,” pointing out that cdma2000 and W-CDMA have been commercial since 2000 and 2001, respectively.
“TD-SCDMA won’t catch up to cdma2000 and W-CDMA as fast as some would like, but look at the number of vendors developing it.”
The TD-SCDMA Industry Association, of which Nortel is among the original members, only claims 16 members.
The TD-SCDMA trial results have led to speculation that China will delay its 3G licensing plans further until TD-SCDMA is ready – which the China Academy of Telecommunications Research recommended Friday – but Huang says the delay may not be all that long.
“The key window to me is, if we can deploy commercial TD-SCDMA in the third quarter of 2006, it should be okay,” he said. “That will allow for another year to fine tune the system before the Olympics in Beijing in 2008.”
About the Author
John C. Tanner
Global Technology Editor
About John C. Tanner
email: tanner@telecomasia.net
See more articles by John C. Tanner
John C. Tanner
TD-SCDMA proponents reaffirmed their support for the Chinese 3G technology on Wednesday following last week’s report of technical problems during tests.
Chen Jin-qiao, director of the Institute of Telecommunication Research, a division of the MII's China Academy of Telecommunication Research, said he was not disappointed with the results of the trial, revealed last week at a 3G conference in Beijing, in which the technology showed problems with network stability and core reliability.
“There are always problems in developing any standard,” he said following a panel session on 3G deployment strategies. “Once you commercialize it, you can deal with the problems one by one.”
Chen said he expects TD-SDMA products could see commercial launch in the second half of 2005, and that, assuming a theoretical commercial launch of all three 3G technologies by the end of next year, TD-SCDMA could account for 20% of the 3G market and 25% of revenues by 2010.
That said, he took pains to caution that it was still up to the MII, which has yet to make any final decision on a time framework for rolling out 3G in China.
“It’s not just about TD-SCDMA, it’s also about reforming the market, ensuring competitiveness and so many other complicated factors,” he said. “That’s why the Chinese government is looking at other policies to help further development.”
One possible policy under consideration is supply incentives such as tax credits to vendors developing TD-SCDMA to shorten their time cycles.
George Huang, VP of wireless networks for Greater China at Nortel Networks, said TD-SCDMA’s development would benefit by more foreign vendor participation.
“We need more people to join in to develop the technology in different areas – handsets, chipsets and test equipment,” he said. “We need more heavyweights. We’re happy to see Alcatel come in. We’d like to see more come in.”
Huang said press reports that the MII trials showed TD-SCDMA was well behind W-CDMA and cdma2000 “should be no surprise,” pointing out that cdma2000 and W-CDMA have been commercial since 2000 and 2001, respectively.
“TD-SCDMA won’t catch up to cdma2000 and W-CDMA as fast as some would like, but look at the number of vendors developing it.”
The TD-SCDMA Industry Association, of which Nortel is among the original members, only claims 16 members.
The TD-SCDMA trial results have led to speculation that China will delay its 3G licensing plans further until TD-SCDMA is ready – which the China Academy of Telecommunications Research recommended Friday – but Huang says the delay may not be all that long.
“The key window to me is, if we can deploy commercial TD-SCDMA in the third quarter of 2006, it should be okay,” he said. “That will allow for another year to fine tune the system before the Olympics in Beijing in 2008.”
About the Author
John C. Tanner
Global Technology Editor
About John C. Tanner
email: tanner@telecomasia.net
See more articles by John C. Tanner
# posted by MiDBA @ 12/07/2004 01:49:00 PM 
