China Unicom Ltd. has big plans to introduce the popular iPhone in China as a model that runs on its Wideband Code-Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) network. It will start selling the iPhone on World Telecommunications Day on May 17 by subsidizing consumers who pay a certain amount of service fees in advance.

THE LATEST THING: A TV program is shown on a 3G mobile phone. Third-generation cellular technology will become a new force spurring China's overall domestic demand for goods and services (PEI XIN)

Yang Pu, an electronics and information industry researcher at China Securities Co. Ltd., believes the tactic will boost the telecom operator's revenue and market share, because Chinese consumers, especially high-end ones, have been eagerly awaiting the introduction of the iPhone. He said this year and next will be the two most important ones for the growth of China's 3G market, when many consumers will switch their 2G phones for 3G models. At present, there are nearly 700 million cell phone subscribers in China. If 20 percent of them upgrade to 3G phones, the country's mobile operators can expect to sell about 140 million new handsets.

The three licensed 3G service providers, China Unicom, China Telecom Corp. and China Mobile Communications Corp. (China Mobile), are scrambling for subscribers in various ways. Their introduction of 3G services will become a new force to drive domestic demand in the country, Yang said.

Pre-commercial service begins

To develop 3G networks, the government reorganized the telecommunications market in 2008, merging the original six telecom operators into three. Each of the three operators now has a 3G license.

China Mobile received a license for TD-SCDMA (Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access), a home-grown wireless technology standard that is the forerunner among the country's 3G networks. Last April, the company began pre-commercial network service in eight Chinese cities, and by the end of 2008, there had been 419,000 3G subscribers in the country. Now the TD-SCDMA network covers 10 cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. China Mobile plans to spend 58.8 billion yuan ($8.61 billion) on its network construction. By the end of this year, its TD-SCDMA network will cover 238 large and medium-sized Chinese cities.

China Telecom received a license for a CDMA2000 network. On March 23, the company officially launched its 3G service in Jiangsu Province based on the CDMA2000 standard, becoming the country's second 3G service provider. It soon will offer pre-commercial 3G service in Beijing, Shanghai and Hubei Province. The company's goal is to get 30 million new subscribers this year and 100 million subscribers within three years.

China Unicom has a WCDMA network, which will begin pre-commercial service in 55 cities on May 17. Besides the iPhone, China Unicom will offer 45 models of 3G cell phones, including both foreign and domestic brands such as Dopod, Huawei, Moto, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and Nokia.

Besides cell phone network service, the three operators are competing for wireless wideband Internet access service. Wireless access points based on 3G networks and laptops with built-in wireless access points are now available on the market.