Chinese homegrown 3G technology TD-SCDMA has been given a boost this week following a tie-up between vendors Alcatel Shanghai Bell and Datang Mobile and efforts by operator China Mobile to drive up usage. In a statement yesterday, Alcatel Shanghai Bell and Datang Mobile announced they have signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) “to facilitate the widespread commercial deployment of TD-SCDMA systems in China and elsewhere.” The move follows earlier TD-SCDMA agreements between the two companies and will see the formation of a joint team that will bid on future operator projects.

Meanwhile, Dow Jones Newswires reports that China Mobile – a major customer of Alcatel Shanghai Bell – has cut tariffs on its TD-SCDMA trial services in an effort to build its 3G user base before rivals China Unicom and China Telecom are granted commercial 3G licenses. China Mobile’s voice tariff per minute for 3G customers will be 45-73 percent cheaper than the existing 2G service plan, according to China Mobile’s website. “China Mobile’s parent is subsidising the 3G tariff in order to lure more customers using the relatively immature mobile services before transferring the business to the listed company,” Steven Liu, analyst at DBS Vickers Securities, told Dow Jones. China Mobile is currently running trials of TD-SCDMA in 20 cities, and has said it will increase this to 38 by next June. As of end-June this year, China Mobile had spent CNY15 billion (US$2.2 billion) in developing the TD-SCDMA technology in the first phase of the 3G network trial. It built 15,000 basestations and reportedly had 175,000 3G trial customers as of August 24. China Mobile is expected to be granted a commercial nationwide TD-SCDMA license once the country’s industry restructuring is complete, whilst China Telecom and China Unicom will receive 3G licenses based on CDMA2000 and WCDMA technology, respectively.