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China Mobile to build more base stations for 3G

By Tong Hao (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2008-12-23 16:19

China Mobile, the country's largest mobile phone carrier, plans to speed up TD-SCDMA network construction by building another 100,000 base stations from 2009 to 2011 in order to embrace third generation (3G) telecom technology.

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The total number of base stations will hit 140,000 by the end of 2011, covering 95 percent of Chinese prefecture-level cities, or 316 cities nationwide, said Dong Xin, general manager of China Mobile's planning department.

China Mobile, which kicked off the first phase of the TD-SCDMA network construction in 2007, will have established 44,000 base stations by June 2009 when the second phase is completed, the trade journal Communications World Weekly quoted Dong as saying.

Meanwhile, Dong said China Mobile will also narrow the gap between TD-SCDMA, a 3G system based on homegrown technology, and other 3G telecom technologies such as WCDMA.

China is planning to issue the long-awaited 3G licenses by the end of 2008 or by the start of 2009, Li Yizhong, Minister of Industry and Information Technology said earlier.

Under the plan, China Mobile will get a permit to operate the TD-SCDMA-based 3G network.