From 3G to 4G: standards and the development of mobile broadband in China

Abstract

This paper explores the way that increasing engagement in international standardisation processes has enabled Chinese firms to become global players in mobile telecommunications technologies and China to become a major influence in the international information and communications technology (ICT) standards arena. From a ‘social shaping of technology’ perspective it examines the development of the third generation (3G) TD-SCDMA (time division synchronous code division multiple access) mobile telephony standard (TD) and the path laid towards the next generation of mobile broadband standards and technologies. The paper highlights the complex interactions between a wide array of players involved, including national and foreign firms, and different sections and levels of the Chinese state. TD's success was by no means predetermined. China eventually adopted a pragmatic approach implementing TD and the two established Western standards. This complex history and interplay between Chinese and foreign players calls into question the idea of national or indigenous technologies for large-scale infrastructures, and highlights the limitations of national strategies in globalised innovation processes.

Keywords:

• China
• standards
• mobile
• 3G
• 4G
• innovation

Acknowledgements

This paper is largely based on research conducted under the China EU Information Technology Standards Research Partnership. This was a support action part funded under the European FP7 Socio-economic Sciences and the Humanities programme, topic SSH-2007-8.2 under Grant Agreement No. 217457.

Notes

This paper is largely based on evidence gathered for the ‘Final Report on standards dynamics in mobile broadband: from 3G to 4G’ (2009), available at the project website http://www.china-eu-standards.org/

Except for papers on early systems, such as Korea's WiBro (Shin, Choo, and Beom 2010).

CDMA is industry shorthand for the IS-95 standard, commercialised by Qualcomm as part of the cdmaOne system.

For example, these two firms won just 10% in the second round CDMA public bidding (Interviewed sources).

CDMA is sometimes used to refer to the family of standards including IS-95 and IS-2000 that use the CDMA multiple access radio system, and CDMA2000 references to as the US 3G standard.

MPT was renamed MII after a reorganisation which shed its responsibilities for postal services.

Formally Xiangshan Science Conference, which started in 1992 and since 1993 has received formal joint support from the State Science and Technology Commission of China (former body of the Ministry of Science and Technology) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (for details please see http://www.xssc.ac.cn/xs/).

For a TD-SCDMA timeline from the Siemens Perspective, see http://www.TD-SCDMA-tech.de/pr-art.htm (accessed 11 September 2008).

TD-SCDMA: time division synchronous code division multiple access. All cellular radio access systems are a compromise of factors such as number of simultaneous users, ease of system implementation, the type of data traffic expected, mobility of terminals, range etc. TD-SCDMA uses unpaired spectrum bands, mixing uplink and downlink traffic in the same spectrum band, dividing them in timeslots (unlike frequency division (FD), which requires operators to have two ‘paired’ spectrum bands). It cannot support as many users, and needs precise timing mechanisms in the terminal, has lower range, but is easier to implement (e.g. Kammerlander 2000).

Also known as TD-CDMA.

See Bekkers, Duysters, and Verspagen (2002a) and Bekkers, Verspagen, and Smits (2002b).

http://www.tdscdma-forum.org

Although core committees were founded in 1999, CCSA was only fully constituted in December 2002. China–EU Information Technology Standards Research Partnership Deliverable 3 (2008).

http://www.tdscdma-alliance.org/

60Mhz each was also released for WCDMA and CMDA2000 use.

The word ‘Western’ is frequently used in Chinese discussions, despite some of the core technology of 3G being Korean or Japanese).

SEC Charges Siemens AG for Engaging in Worldwide Bribery, http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2008/2008-294.htm (accessed March 2011). Alcatel were also fined.

Sources: Reimers and Li (2007); Ericsson Press release, 19 May 2005; Ure (2007).

For comparison it should be noted that Huawei report winning a US$700 million GSM contract with China Mobile that year, and US$7 billion of orders worldwide in 2007 Huawei Press release ‘Huawei wins USD700 million GSM contract with China Mobile’ (Shenzhen, China – 21 June 2007), Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. and ‘Huawei Takes the Lead with Over 100 HSPA/WCDMA Contracts’, http://www.huawei.com/articles_papers2/simpleres.do?id=1624&type=technology

ZTE, ‘China Mobile sign 3G equipment order’, Shanghai Daily 11 June 2007.

E.g. Caroline Gabriel, ‘Qualcomm to launch TD-SCDMA-SCDMA and TD-SCDMA-LTE next year’, Rethink Wireless, 18 November 2009, http://www.rethink-wireless.com/article.asp?article_id=2161

TD-SCDMA Alliance press releases (accessed 4 September 2008).

The frequency spectrum allocated was: China Mobile [phone] MHz and 2010–2025 MHz, China Telecom 1920–1935MHz and 2110–2125MHz, while China Unicom had 1940–1955MHz and 2130–2145MHz. However, the operators did not need to pay expensive fees for using the frequencies.

To compare the presence of each new firm in the mobile market: figures from the firms themselves in March 2010 suggest that China Mobile had 538.89 million subscribers, China Unicom 147.26 million GSM subscribers, and China Telecom 65.45 million CDMA and PHS subscribers (JLM Pacific Epoch).

According to a regulatory draft released on 8 April 2010 by eight state agencies (JLM Pacific Epoch).

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2011-03/18/content_12192012.htm

OFDMA in the downlink and SC-FDMA in the uplink.

Chairman's presentation to the ITU-R WP 5D Third Workshop on IMT-Advanced, 15 October 2009, stated that a submission to ITU coming through 3GPP will be presented as a ‘FDD Radio Interface Technology component (FDD RIT) and as a TDD Radio Interface Technology component (TDD RIT). Together the FDD RIT and the TDD RIT comprise a Set of Radio Interface Technologies (SRIT)’. The Chinese proposal is identical, see ‘Final evaluation report from WINNER+ on the IMT-Advance proposal in Documents IMT-ADV/6, IMT-ADV/8 and IMT-ADV/9’, Document 5D/769-E, Radiocommunication Study Groups ITU, 2010 http://www.itu.int/ITU-R/index.asp?category=study-groups&rlink=rsg5-imt-advanced&lang=en

E.g. TD-LTE technology and its measurements, Yvonne Liu and Bai Ying, ‘Agilent Technologies’, EDN Asia, 1 November 2009, http://www.ednasia.com/article-24996-tdltetechnologyanditsmeasurements-asia.html

Several other vendors were also running TD-SCDMA-LTE networks at the 2010 Expo.

IRP includes both patents and copyright, which applied to software in some jurisdictions.

Bekkers and Liotard (1999) suggested licensing costs contributed up to US$50 per US$150 handset at that time.

Chinese firms who are only members through CCSA can use terms set by the CCSA.

Reimers and Li (2007) quote IT Time Weekly no. 81, 5 June 2005, p. 23, http://www.ittime.com.cn/) suggesting the big mobile vendors (Nokia, Ericsson, Siemens, Qualcomm, Motorola and Alcatel-Lucent) between them hold only 66% of TD-SCDMA and Yan (2007) seems to have the same figures, with 66% owned by Nokia, Ericsson, Siemens and 23% by ‘others’.