China to spend $146 billion for 3G network in next three years
By Dusan Belic on Monday, June 15th, 2009 at 1:08 AM PST In General
In an effort to build-out 3G network, Chinese mobile operators plan to spend as much as one trillion yuan ($146.4 billion) during the next three years.
According to chairman of the China Association of Communication Enterprises (CACE), Liu Liqing, 400 billion yuan will be allocated for construction of the infrastructure and the remaining 600 billion will be used for the purchase of CPE (customer premise equipment) products.
Mr. Liu made this remark during the two-day telecommunications forum in Taipei on June 3, and added that Taiwanese companies are likely to benefit from China 3G projects. Moreover, he talked about plans of some Chinese operators (China Mobile (NYSE: CHL)?) to establish a TD-SCDMA lab in Taiwan in cooperation with local companies.
On a similar note, China Unicom expects its subscriber base to increase by 30 million this year, while China Telecom is aiming at a little bit lower 15-20 million number.
[Via: DigiTimes]
China has both high growth and a low penetration rate of services. The 3g service is also an example of developing countries being able to leapfrog generations of a technology.