With the Beijing Olympics just around the corner, China is speeding up efforts to promote its home-grown 3G (third generation) standard TD-SCDMA.

As the test TD-SCDMA network in 10 Chinese cities has now been completed and with increasing participation of foreign and domestic companies, the government is preparing TD-SCDMA for its debut, in an effort to help it win a better position in the country's upcoming 3G arena.

"We have spent less than one year to build the TD-SCDMA test network in Shenyang and its coverage has reached 95 percent of the current 2G network in the city," said Guo Yingao, vice-president of China Mobile's arm in Liaoning province, whose capital Shenyang will hold some Olympic events.

"Although the network is still not perfect at the moment, it is ready for the Olympics," he added.

China Mobile was mandated to build TD-SCDMA trial networks since last year in 10 cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, and began the first public trial on April 1.

The company announced last month it would offer 100,000 TD-SCDMA handsets for free to Olympic volunteers and would provide handset-leasing services for foreign visitors during the Games, a move to fulfill the government's promise to offer 3G services during the Games.

"The upcoming Olympic Games is a big opportunity for TD-SCDMA as it offers a good chance to show its advantage to the people from home and abroad," said Wang Guoping, an analyst from China Galaxy Securities Co. "The time is perfect especially considering the 3G services basing on other two standards are not available in the country yet."

The battle of standards

China launched a plan to overhaul its telecom industry in May, in which the country's six telecom operators will be merged into three to provide both fixed-line and mobile services. It has promised to issue three 3G licenses as soon as the restructuring is completed.