China Welcomes Foreign 3G Standards

In somewhat of a change of heart, the Chinese Ministry of Information Industry has strengthened its "technology neutral" stance by approving western 3G network standards for use in the country. China has developed its own homegrown 3G standard called TD-SCDMA, but is welcoming European and American standards in the hope that it will force improvement for its own standard.

The two western standards approved for the country are Europe's WCDMA and America's CDMA2000. China is the world's largest and fastest growing mobile market, with the deployment of 3G and testing of 4G technology undertaken in anticipation of a large market for data services.

While the foreign standards are approved by the Ministry, the Chinese government is still in control of issuing 3G spectrum licenses for all standards. [via Telecomasia]