Chinese vendors were late last week reportedly awarded around 80 percent of a giant contract to supply 12,000 base stations to support the further deployment of TD-SCDMA 3G services by China Mobile. European manufacturers, namely Ericsson and Nokia Siemens Networks, were lower down the pecking order, with Ericsson reportedly expressing its disappointment at only winning five percent of the overall order.

According to a Dow Jones Newswire report, Datang Telecom was the major beneficiary, winning around 40 percent of the deal, with ZTE being thought to have grasped nearly 30 percent and Huawei scooping just under 20 percent. It is believed that this contract will enable China Mobile, the world’s largest mobile operator by subscribers, to expand its coverage of TD-SCDMA to 28 cities in China by the end of June next year. This is in addition to the 10 metropolitan areas already serviced by the company using TD-SCDMA.