China to ease restrictions on Wi-Fi enabled handsets

Published: 25 Jun 2009 17:57:53 PST

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Jun. 26, 2009 (China Knowledge) - China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), the telecom sector's watchdog, has begun conducting tests on Wi-Fi enabled handset models, the Shanghai Daily reported on Wednesday.

The move reflects the willingness of the Chinese government to ease restrictions on Wi-Fi functions on mobile phones in China, the world's largest handset market.

Sales of Apple Inc's iPhone handsets, not yet available in China, as well as sales of other smartphones with Wi-Fi features, are likely to benefit from the move, industry insiders said.

Wi-Fi enabled handsets to be sold in China must also support the country's home-grown WAPI wireless networking standards.

Motorola Inc, the world's third largest handset manufacturer, last week unveiled a Wi-Fi enabled WCDMA handset, the A3100, in the country. The company earlier obtained a mobile network access permit from MIIT to launch the handset.

Sales of Wi-Fi enabled handsets will allow China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd<600050><0762><CHU> and China Telecom Corp Ltd<0728><CHA> to catch up with the country's largest telecom operator, China Mobile Ltd<0941><CHL>.

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