US: China Will Allow Firms to Select Mobile Standard

The U.S. government is claiming that China has promised to allow its phone companies to select which mobile standard they wish to use for next-generation mobile phones, even though it is developing its own technology, the Associated Press reports via Newsvine.

There had been widespread fear across the global mobile industry that China, which has the largest mobile phone market on the planet, would mandate usage of its own third-generation (3G) standard to cut down on the amount of foreign technology it depends on, according to the AP.

With more than 400 million mobile users, China’s decisions regarding standards often greatly affect equipment suppliers, the AP reports.

The news comes from trade talks that are taking place in Washington, preceding a visit from Chinese President Hu Jintao, according to a statement on the U.S. Trade Representative’s office website, the AP reports.

That statement, released Tuesday, says China has pledged to “ensure that telecommunications service providers will be allowed to make their own choices as to which standard to adopt, and to issue licenses for all 3G standards in a technologically neutral manner,” according to the AP.

Chinese phone companies have reportedly been hesitant to use the Chinese system, dubbed TD-SCDMA, because two non-Chinese systems, called WCDMA and CDMA-2000, are more functional, the AP reports.

Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi chaired the gathering, and both U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez and U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman were in attendance, according to the AP.

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