China's telecom carriers invest RMB 96 bln in 3G networks

Oct. 30, 2009 (China Knowledge) - China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said on Tuesday that investment in 3G technology had reached RMB 96.1 billion so far this year, the Shanghai Daily reported.

In the first half, the country's big three telecom operators, China Mobile Ltd<0941><CHL>, China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd<600050><0762><CHU> and China Telecom Corp Ltd<0728><CHA>, invested RMB 80 billion in the telecom industry to boost the 3G networks. In the third quarter of this year, China's telecom carriers spent RMB 19.1 billion on 3G networks, said the ministry.

By the end of this year, each of the three telecom giants will be offering 3G services in more than 300 major Chinese cities.

In January, the Chinese government issued 3G licenses to its three telecom carriers. China Mobile, the country's largest telecom operator, was authorized to offer 3G services based on the home-grown TD-SCDMA standard. China Telecom runs 3G services based the U.S.-developed CDMA2000 standard in 342 cities across the country, while China Unicom has launched 3G services based on Europe's WCDMA standards in 100 cities.

The spending on 3G networks has helped boost the revenue of the communications and personal computer sectors, said the ministry.