Cai Yingbo

THE indigenous third-generation mobile phone network (3G) will begin trials in Shenzhen tomorrow, with 157 as the initial numbers.

Shenzhen is one of the eight mainland pilot cities to start commercial trials of the high-speed wireless connection service TD-SCDMA (Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access), China’s homegrown standard for 3G.

The trials were announced by China Mobile on Friday.

The other seven pilot cities are Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Shenyang, Guangzhou, Qinhuangdao and Xiamen.

Mobile users in these cities will access faster Web browsing, on-demand TV programs and videos on mobile phones, apart from other services, the company said.

China Mobile will provide 20,000 users with handsets valued at 2,000 yuan (US$282) to 4,000 yuan each and data cards free of charge for the trial use, it said. This will include 4,000 users in Guangdong Province.

A monthly subsidy of 800 yuan will also be offered to each user.

A China Mobile spokesman said the trial service would have nothing to do with the issuing of 3G licenses. He did not disclose how long the trials would last or whether they would be extended to other cities.

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“The next move to be taken will depend on the results of the trial,” he said.

The company says its TD-SCDMA network could support up to 8 million users.

Many young people interviewed were excited about the introduction of 3G in Shenzhen while some residents were still hesitating to use the services.

“I am eager to use a 3G phone which will bring me more entertainment. I hope I could watch the Beijing Olympic Games on the mobile phone in August even when I am taking bus,” said Li Yong, a 26-year-old employee of an electronics company in Huangqiangbei, Futian District.

However, a man surnamed Zhang who has been using Gotone for years was disappointed when China Mobile staff told him he couldn’t keep his original 139 number if he bought a 3G phone.

Some experts say the technology may not yet be mature enough.

“I think China’s TD-SCDMA still has at least one year to go before it becomes mature technology,” said Wang Yuquan, president of Frost & Sullivan, China, a marketing consultant. “There are many technical defects and problems to be solved before it is used on a large scale.”

China had 565 million mobile phone users by the end of last month, about 43 percent of the population.

TD-SCDMA works in much the same way as competing 3G technologies such as WCDMA (wideband CDMA) and CDMA 2000, which are used in other parts of the world such as Japan, Europe and North America. But China opted for its own 3G standard as a way to increase its technological prowess and reduce its dependence on foreign technology.