January 7, 2010, was the anniversary of 3G license launching by MIIT. In just one year, the number of 3G subscribers has crossed 15 million mark, much above the 10 million subscribers estimation by industry analysts.
MIIT after accepting paper applications from China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom, and had examined financial qualification, business development and deployment, network plan and construction, and network interoperability of these three main operators. On 6 January 2009, MIIT had issued 3G license for these three main operators.
On 7 January 2009, MIIT officially gave 3G licence to China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom. Thereby marking China’s official entry into 3G.
According to MIIT statistics, till the end of October 2009, the number of 3G subscribers was 9.77 million, of which China Mobile TD subscribers reached 3.94 million. MIIT announced that this year they expect to achieve 3G investment values of CNY143.5 billion, complete construction of 285 thousand base stations, and obtain more than 10 million users.
However, the real situation so far has grown faster and much beyond expecations. At 3G license anniversary, 3G construction and operation has developed very well. There are more than CNY160.9 billion network investment, 325 thousand base stations, 15 million users and has created 670 thousand jobs. The 3G network has covered principal cities. For instance, China Mobile, which planned to achieve 3 million TD subscribers, was able to garner 5 million by the end of last year. (Translated by Alice He)
