The country may issue third-generation (3G) mobile telecom licenses one at a time next year, with the first permit likely to require an operator to use the homegrown TD-SCDMA standard, according to Christoph Caselitz, president of Siemens's mobile networks division.
China is widely expected to clear the way for the creation of 3G networks in early 2006, but many industry observers have predicted that up to four licenses would be issued at the same time and that TD-SCDMA would play only a minor role.
However, Caselitz said the Chinese Government was likely to stagger the issue of licenses throughout the year.
"I can imagine from the public discussions that we are having in China that TD-SCDMA may be the first license to be issued," he said at the 3G World ConGREss in Hong Kong.
Siemens, the German telecom equipment vendor, is the China-backed standard's biggest international supporter.
He said Siemens would invest hundreds of millions of euros in the Asian mobile market, in an attempt to overtake Nokia as the world's second-biggest provider of wireless telecom equipment.
The investment will help Siemens stake its claim for an "above-average share" in a market, where the number of mobile subscribers is expected to soar from the current 820 million to 1.2 billion in the next five years.
Caselitz stressed that his view on the 3G licenses was speculative, but such an approach by China's telecom regulators would be a huge boost to TD-SCDMA, which is commercially unproven.
Caselitz's comments come amid other indications that the prospects for widespread use of TD-SCDMA in China are improving.
Lucent Technologies is forming an alliance with China's Datang Telecom Technology to make TD-SCDMA equipment, Reuters reported Tuesday.
Nokia, the Finnish mobile phone and network company, last month announced a 900 million yuan (US$111 million) joint venture with Chinese counterpart China Putian intended to allow it to offer products based on TD-SCDMA.
