Unicom to be awarded Macau 3G licence

China Unicom is to be awarded a third generation (3G) mobile operating licence in the former Portuguese colony of Macau. Unicom's Macau branch was the only bidder for a CDMA2000 3G licence while there were four bidder to operate on a WCDMA platform. CDMA2000 is the US 3G standard while WCDMA is the next generation GSM multimedia standard being adopted in Europe.

Macau will only operate one CDMA2000 3G network so China Unicom will win the licence y default with no other parties contending. The official announcement is expected on October 28 this year. The telecoms authorities in Macau plan to issue four 3G licenses in two phases. In the first phase, one WCDMA and CDMA2000 licence will be issued. In the second phase there will also be the possibility for operators to bid for a Chinese homegrown TD-SCDMA (Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access) licence. It is widely expected that TD-SCDMA will be given a certain priority when mainland Chinese 3G licences are issued later this year or early in 2007.

CMI - 22/8/06