Xiamen Adopts Open Market Model for Wireless City
China Communications, 10/29/08
A source has revealed that the Xiamen municipal government has decided to adopt a free market operating model for the operation of its TD-SCDMA-based "wireless city" project. The city government will neither invest in nor subsidize the project, but it will perform guidance and supervision of the project, and will also allow base stations to be constructed on government buildings. Operators will be responsible for network construction, operation, maintenance, optimization, and upgrades. The government also stressed that it wanted to use existing 3G and telecommunication resources, rather than constructing a standalone "wireless city" network.
At present, Xiamen Mobile has constructed over 1,000 TD-SCDMA base stations, through which, subscribers may browse government websites free of charge. Xiamen Mobile is also currently exploring the applications of TD-SCDMA networks in university campuses as well as applications for industry, but has yet to achieve profitability in this area.
In contrast Xiamen Telecom has set up more than 200 Wi-Fi hotspots, which are open to the public for free use, and is developing partnerships with data content and application providers to provide services on which it will charge fees, however, it has also yet to become profitable.
Editor's Note: Xiamen's "Wireless City" project got underway on September 8, 2008. For more background, please see "China Mobile to Build Wireless City in Xiamen", MD 8/28/08 issue.
Keywords: government support Xiamen Telecom China Telecom CHA 0728.HK 3G China Mobile network construction TD-SCDMA Wi-Fi wireless wireless city Xiamen Xiamen Mobile base station wireless networking
Sending
