The Ministry of Information Industry (MII) reiterated Tuesday in Beijing that it will remain cautious about issuing licences for the third generation (3G) of wireless communications, despite the increasing outcry from telecom operators and equipment providers.

"We will keep an eye on the maturity of 3G technologies and market to work out the right time (to issue licences)," said MII Vice-Minister Lou Qinjian at the Seventh China 3GSM Conference Tuesday in Beijing.

"Meanwhile, we have to protect the interests of mobile subscribers while kicking off new policies, such as the licence issue."

Lou's remarks echoed Minister Wang Xudong's words last week at Bo'ao Forum for Asia in Hainan, saying the Chinese Government is not in a hurry to release 3G mobile licences.

According to Lou, the MII is closely following the network trial testing for the three 3G standards, including the European WCDMA (wideband code division multiple access), US-developed CDMA 2000 and the domestic TD-SCDMA (time division synchronous code division multiple access) standard.

Nevertheless, it is widely predicted that the licences will be offered next year.

Services would start eight to 12 months after the licences are awarded, analysts said.

Insiders also expected both the major fixed-line operators - China Telecom and China Netcom - will get licences, as will the two existing mobile operators, China Mobile and China Unicom.

"Domestic telecom operators are allowed to choose whatever standards they like," Lou said.

Lou said that the ministry is currently joining hands with the State Development and Reform Commission (SDRC) to do research work on related policies.

According to current market expectations, China Mobile, the world's biggest carrier in terms of subscribers, would build a 3G system on the WCDMA standard, which is based on the GSM technology made popular in Europe.

(China Daily April 28, 2004)