Third-generation (3G) telephony is not available on the Chinese
mainland yet but subscribers in one city district can now go beyond
where no one has ever gone.
The world's first fourth-generation (4G) mobile communication
system was officially launched yesterday in Shanghai's Changning
District after a field trial was conducted in October.
The home-grown 4G system provides speeds of up to 100 mbps in
wireless transmission of data and images many times faster than
that of current mobile technology.
The rollout of the trial, which has cost 150 million yuan ($19.2
million), is a milestone in the development of China's 4G
technologies.
"It testifies that the technology we've developed is feasible
and brings us one step closer to put it into commercial use," said
You Xiaohu, a leading expert involved in the program.
China initiated the B3G (Beyond 3G)/4G research project in 2001
under the label Future Technology for Universal Radio Environment,
or FuTURE Project, which is included in the national high-tech
development plan.
The country has set a goal of conducting field tests of the 4G
system and putting it into trial commercial use between 2006 and
2010, according to the FuTURE Project.
"The Shanghai system shows that we have entered the final phase
of our project," said You, also the principal of the FuTURE
Project's expert panel.
The FuTURE Project involves about 10 leading domestic
institutions.
It has obtained more than 200 patents and some of its core
technologies have been adopted by international standards
organizations, positioning China as one of the world's
front-runners in 4G technologies.
4G mobile communication, which is expected to be used
commercially by around 2010, will be able to transmit data as
quickly as optical fiber, dramatically improving the streaming of
high-quality images and data services through wireless
transmission.
China has yet to award domestic telecom operators licences to
build 3G (third generation) mobile phone networks, but Wang Xudong,
minister of information industry, told reporters at the ITU Telecom
World 2006 last month that it could happen "very soon".
(China Daily January 29, 2007)