Keep On Waiting For Those Chinese 3G Licenses
The mobile industry’s been waiting with bated breath for the Chinese government to award 3G licenses to carriers there, hoping the buildout will provide them with a big bump in sales. The government continues to disappoint them, though, not being very clear on exactly when or how it will award the licenses, with most speculation outside the country being that it’s waiting for the homegrown TD-SCDMA standard to pan out so it can mandate its use. Now, in an announcement that shouldn’t cause much surprise to anybody, Siemens — incidentally one of the few foreign backers of TD-SCDMA — now says it doesn’t expect to see the licenses until the first half of 2006, bringing its expectations in line with other network gear vendors. Looks like the news of the licenses actually being awarded will stay in the “believe it when I see it” file for a while longer yet.
