China Telecom has awarded Motorola a large CDMA network contract covering 42 cities in nine provinces across the country. “Motorola will provide China Telecom with the latest versions of its CDMA2000 1x and next-generation CDMA equipment at thousands of cell sites,” noted a statement from the vendor. “The equipment will be installed in early 2009 and is part of an overall larger project to upgrade China Telecom’s entire nationwide CDMA network to next-generation capability.” Financial details were not disclosed.

Although no specific mention was made of 3G, media reports today suggest that Motorola’s reference to the upgrade including “next-generation broadband data capability and advanced multimedia services” bodes well for the US vendor’s involvement in future Chinese 3G network rollout. The existing equipment that Motorola has been contracted to upgrade is based on CDMA2000 1x technology, an older 2.5G mobile data technology, whilst the next generation of this technology is a 3G version called CDMA2000 1xEV-DO. Reports last week stated that China will award 3G licenses by early next year. Market-leader China Mobile will receive a license based on TD-SCDMA, the country’s homegrown 3G standard, second-placed China Unicom will receive a WCDMA license, and new mobile player China Telecom will be given a 3G license using CDMA2000 1xEV-DO technology. The license awards are expected to generate CNY200 billion (US$29.2 billion) in investments from the three operators.