Nokia says that it will release its first 3G phone based on China's homegrown TD-SCDMA format before the end of this year. The phone will be a Symbian based handset in the mid to high price range.
Colin Giles, Nokia's president for China, told the Reuters news agency in an interview that despite the sole operator using TD-SCDMA being China Mobile, it still makes sense to develop handsets for the 3G technology.
"If we want to be a player and we want to maintain our market share, then we will have to have products for all standards," Giles said.
That Nokia is developing a TD-SCDMA based handset is not unexpected. At last year's Mobile Asia Congress in Macau, Giles had confirmed that the company will develop handsets based on the Chinese 3G technology. As China Mobile has a market share of around 70%, supporting the TD-SCDMA format is essential for any handset vendor seeking to retain their market position.
"There's a clear trend of people using mobile phones for more and more things," said Giles, adding that this, together with an expected increase in rural penetration, would help to maintain Nokia's 40 percent market share in China.
Nokia is also a 49% holder in a Chinese joint venture, Potevio with China Putian to develop network infrastructure based on the 3G standard, so it has access to the necessary technical expertise. Potevio was set up in 2005 and has also been the major supplier of equipment to China Mobile's TD-SCDMA trial networks in Tianjin and Qinhuangdao.
China Mobile uses the Chinese developed 3G standard, TD-SCDMA, while China Telecom is based on CDMA2000 and China Unicom is rolling out a new WCDMA based network.
