Chinese 3G Standard Will Go Global

A Chinese standard for 3G (third generation) mobile communications will emerge as one of the top global 3G standards, according to a top executive of Royal Philips Electronics NV of the Netherlands.

TD-SCDMA (Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access), a 3G standard largely developed in China, will be particularly of interest for developing economies, Gerard Kleisterlee, president and chief executive officer of the company, told reporters Monday in Bangalore, India.

TD-SCDMA not only provides high bandwidth, which is required for data-intensive multimedia applications like streaming video and audio, but also provides low-cost technology for users that want to use their mobile phones only for telephony, according to Kleisterlee. The cost of setting up the infrastructure is relatively lower than for other 3G standards, he said.

The first large market for TD-SCDMA will be China because the technology has been largely developed there, according to Kleisterlee. Down the line it would also be attractive in developing economies that have not made large investments either in CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) or 3G standards, he said. Even in developing economies in Europe and in the U.S. where investments in 3G have already been made, TD-SCDMA may still be attractive because the transition cost from existing 3G infrastructure to TD-SCDMA infrastructure is small, he added.

A new focus area for Philips Innovation Campus (PIC), the development subsidiary in Bangalore of Philips, is the development of technologies and products for emerging markets, said Kleisterlee who is on a four-day visit to India.

India has the potential to become a test bed for developing technologies that address the needs of the 4 billion people who are at “the base of the global economic pyramid,” the company said in a statement Monday.

Philips is collaborating with the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) in Bangalore and other organizations on a telemedicine pilot project for providing distance health care to rural communities.

PIC already contributes around one-third of the software content of Philip’s products worldwide and has established itself as a key center of excellence for the company. The center also designs some of Philips’ Nexperia chips that go into devices such as mobile phones and digital television sets.

By John Ribeiro, IDG News Service (Bangalore Bureau)