China and 4G

Posted on February 26, 2008 by Kaiser Kuo:
"The English site of the widely-admired Caijing magazine has run a fascinating story called “Grand Plan for 4G R&D,” offering a peak into a massive, government-led research project for fourth-generation mobile technology. The project, saddled with the clunky moniker “Next-Generation Broadband Wireless Mobile Communications Network,” received the blessing of Premier Wen Jiabao in December of last year, and will stretch over 15 years with total spending expected to reach 70 billion yuan–close to $10 billion.

Apparently the basic research stage will be financed by the Ministry of Finance to the tune of 20 billion yuan, while the private sector is expected to take the lead in actual product development. Details of the plan, according to Caijing’s sources, may be announced at the National People’s Congress in March."

Full blog entry here

Report "Access to Government Information in Europe and China"

Over the past year, the EU-China Information Society Project has worked on a report to support the Chinese State Council in their effort to prepare the drafting and implementation of an Access to Government Information regulation. The report, primarily drafted by Megan Carter of University College, London, and Prof Lv Yanbin of the Chinese Academy for the Social Sciences, sheds light on the key challenges that need to be tackled in such an effort of government modernisation and increased transparency. The necessary institutional structures, training measures and implementation preconditions are being approached, and those elements of the Chinese regulation are being highlighted where further clarification is necessary.
The report in English language can be downloaded here (PDF 917 kB).
The report in Chinese language can be downloaded here (PDF 1.5 MB)

Please note that this version of the report is a working paper, not a full-fledged publication, so please forgive all flaws you may find. There is a book publication of the Chinese version under way.

3G Ready in Beijing, Shanghai, and 6 Other Cities

From Technoblog86.com:
3G Ready in Beijing, Shanghai, and 6 Other Cities
<http://www.techblog86.com/?p=74>
3G will be a fact of life for residents in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou,
Shenzhen, as well as 4 other mainland Chinese cities. An Oriental Morning
Post report has it that although 3G licenses are still some time away,
TD-SCDMA networks are nonetheless ready for a launch as early as late
February 2008.
TD-SCDMA networks are already in place for Beijing, Tianjin, Shenyang,
Shenzhen, Qinhuangdao, Xiamen, Guangzhou and Shanghai. Shanghai, in fact, is
fully ready for TD-SCDMA were it not for some bugs on the maglev and a few
subway lines, thanks to the efforts of China Mobile.
Stage 2 of the project will see TD-SCDMA expand into hundreds more of
Chinese cities. Once 3G mobile phones are ready, the masses will be able to
phone, watch TV, and play games online - via their own mobile phone.

Telco Regrouping

Techblog86 brings this consideration about the impact of weather on the telcos:

Telco Regrouping: Delayed, Hit By Blizzard
http://www.techblog86.com/?p=71
February 15, 2008 | Filed Under Mainland China, Mobile |

It’s likely that the recent blizzards that have hit south China will bring about a delay in the nation’s telecom regrouping. Although massive losses are not expected, Q1 results are nonetheless likely to be impacted.

The losses amount to CNY 1.2 billion. It’s not massive when you compare it to the annual gains — a massive CNY 800 billion, but the bad timing of the storms with the Chinese New Years mean that the results could be negatively affected.

China Telecom could be hit the most. Less hit would be China Netcom. There’s a big geo reason for this: China Telecom mostly serves South China, the area badly hit by the blizzard. On the contrary, China Netcom is mainly a northern telco; its losses are likely to be insignificant.

SARFT Clarifies New Online Video Regulations

SARFT Clarifies New Online Video Regulations
SARFT, 2/03/08
China's State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) has
published a notice clarifying details of its new Regulations for Online
Audio and Video Services, explaining that some existing private online video
firms will, under a grandfather clause, be eligible to continue operations.
More specifically, those firms which had offered online video services
legally and without violation of rules on permissible content before
issuance of the new regulations will be allowed to re-register and continue
providing services; those which had been cited for major or repeated
violations of earlier rules, such as provision of pornographic, violent, or
other illegal content, will be punished and severely regulated; and those
which had been cited for more minor violations will be required to come into
compliance before a certain date.
However, companies which apply to offer online video services after issuance
of the new regulations will be required to meet the qualifications stated in
Item 8 of the new regulations (e.g. majority state-ownership, possession of
a comprehensive program censoring system, legal program resources, legal
funding sources, and "standardized technology").
Other key points of the notice are as follows:
Websites must not re-broadcast, link, or aggregate content from illegal
radio and TV channels or online audio-visual websites. Content uploaded to
podcast and video sharing sites must also conform to these regulations.
Websites which provide such services will be held responsible for deleting
illegal content uploaded by netizens.
A license is required for companies producing, editing, aggregating and
broadcasting audio and visual programs via the internet to the public, and
is also required for websites that offer platforms to which netizens can
upload audio-visual content. Netizens, themselves, will not be required to
have a license for uploading audio-visual content.
Content (TV dramas, films, and documentaries) broadcast online must obtain a
distribution license from SARFT, and must also have online broadcasting
authorization from the copyright owner.

China awards access licenses for homegrown 3G network

story from Xinhua: China awards access licenses for homegrown 3G network

BEIJING, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- Six handset makers, including Lenovo and ZTE,
were awarded the first post-trial period access licenses to China's
homegrown third generation (3G) network on Wednesday, according to the
TD-SCDMA Industry Alliance.
The move indicated that the technology, TD-SCDMA (Time Division-Synchronous
Code Division Multiple Access), was entering the commercial stage.
The licenses would immediately give Lenovo, ZTE, Hisense, Samsung, LG and
New Postcom opportunities to win procurement deals from China Mobile.
In December, the nation's largest mobile operator said it planned to
purchase 30,000 TD-SCDMA mobile phones and 10,000 data cards for 3G network
trials.
China Mobile, China Telecom and China Netcom, three major Chinese phone
operators, are conducting network trials of TD-SCDMA in 10 cities. China has
promised to provide 3G mobile communications services in time for the 2008
Beijing Olympics.
Some western governments and companies have accused China of delaying the
issue of 3G licenses to allow its home-grown standard to mature enough to
compete with foreign rivals, including WCDMA and CDMA2000.
Xi Guohua, Vice-Minister of Information Industry, however, pledged last year
that the government would give equal status to WCDMA and CDMA2000 despite
its support for the domestic standard.

China proposes a Data Protection Bill

See a news item from Privacylaws.com. Actually, this has been proposed for a
while, and there is no final draft of the law yet, but having the discussion
about it out in the open may show that the process of bringing about some
form of Personal and / or Commercial Data Protection regulation is
accelerating.
"China proposes a Data Protection Bill
The Bill is comprehensive in scope covering both public and private sectors
and extends to the transfer of personal data to other countries. It
establishes subject access rights, and remedies. The Bill shows more signs
of EU than APEC influence. The Bill has provisions to extend its scope to
Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan."
http://www.privacylaws.com/templates/Page.aspx?id=297

China cuts mobile roaming service charges

China Daily brings a Xinhua news item that reads rather complicatedly and
tells that the government did after all not decide to abandon national
roaming charges and incoming call charges, two items that are symptomatic
results of the Chinese mobile market's non-competition:

China cuts mobile roaming service charges
BEIJING - China's Ministry of Information Industry (MII) and National
Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) jointly announced on Wednesday the
country's mobile roaming service charges would be lowered starting from
March 1 amid fervor of consumer expectation to entirely abolish them.
Mobile phone users would be charged 0.6 yuan (about 8 US cents) per minute
for making calls outside the local service area, and 0.4 yuan, or about 5 c
This means that the country's 539 million mobile subscribers would be able
to enjoy price cuts ranging from 54 percent to 73 percent from next month
on, or no later than May 1.
Full China Daily article at
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-02/13/content_6453526.htm