What Will Drive 3G In China?
Yang Hua, secretary-general of the TD-SCDMA Industry Alliance, has put forward some arguments that 3G will go better in China than in the west because of cultural differences. Reading his conclusions, I can’t help but think he’s clutching at straws in a bid to convince the Chinese government to get on with it and issue 3G licenses. His arguments, as reported by TelecomAsia, are summarized below.
– China has scale. Handset penetration is under 50 percent so there’s still room to grow, and anyway 20 percent of people are replacing their phone each year so 3G will have “a starting point of more than 100 million”.
– The boards of western carriers are capitalists while the boards of Chinese carriers are telecom experts. As a result western carriers go for “hotspot coverage” while Chinese carriers aim for total coverage as a way to achieve a good market return.
– Cultural differences… “Europeans and Americans sought practical and functional applications, while Chinese looked for
Poor James!!! Definitely you are blind to other cultures beyong US territory. Do you really think what Yang said is consistent with what they want to do??? I really recommend you to live and work in China for a while, and then to make such kind of summary.
heh… I've never lived in the US, so I'm pretty sure I'm not blind to other cultures beyond its territory, although my experience in China is limited to a week in Shanghai. But in answer to your question: Yes, I do think the secretary-general of the TD-SCDMA Industry Alliance is keen to convince the government to expediate the roll-out of 3G in China.