China Mobile Ltd. (SEHK: 0941 and NYSE: CHL) lately submitted its planning for next year to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), proposing a target of 30 million TD-SCDMA users.
The goal may be higher under the support of the telecommunications regulator. The leading mobile carrier is evaluating the requirements of the MIIT and will assign specific tasks to provincial branches by the end of 2009.
This year, China Mobile's target is a 3 million TD-SCDMA user base. According to its fiscal report released recently, the company had 1.655 million TD-SCDMA users by September 2009.
It is not an easy task for China Mobile to boost its 3G users by more than 1 million in the following three months. However, the company's executive vice president Lu Xiangdong is very confident to reach the goal.
On October 27, 2009, Nokia Corporation (NYSE: NOK) released its first model of TD-SCDMA mobile phone based on Symbian S60 operating system. The company's president and CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo and president of Chinese operations Colin Giles both attended the release conference.
Kallasvuo disclosed that Nokia had formed specialized R&D teams in a bid to enrich China Mobile's TD-SCDMA product range. Previously, the mobile phone giant launched customized WCDMA and CDMA terminals respectively for China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd. (NYSE: CHU, SEHK: 0762, and SHSE: 600050) and China Telecom Corporation Ltd. (NYSE: CHA and SEHK: 0728).
In November 2008, China Mobile Board Chairman and CEO Wang Jianzhou revealed that the company was cooperating with Nokia on the R&D of TD-SCDMA mobile phones. Colin Giles pointed out when receiving an interview that Nokia's product range would cover different 3G standards.
Previously, China Mobile teamed up with Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT), Samsung and LG and promoted more than 60 TD-SCDMA terminals. Sony Ericsson, which has been looking on, also announced its plan to release TD-SCDMA mobile phones next year, further enriching China Mobile's product range.
Two-thirds of China Mobile's planned 30 million TD-SCDMA users will be mobile phone holders and the rest are users of data cards and wireless fixed-line telephones, disclosed a person in the know.
On October 27, 2009, the MIIT held a press conference, announcing that it had issued 192 network access licenses for TD-SCDMA terminals before October 9, including 83 for mobile phones, 89 for data cards and 20 for wireless fixed-line telephones.
Next year, there will be a demand fore about 5 million TD-SCDMA fixed-line telephones. More than 20 provincial branches of China Mobile are currently kicking off bidding invitations for the product.
