China issues 3G licences

BEIJING: China issued licenses for high-speed mobile-phone services yesterday, clearing the way for as much as US$41 billion of spending on so-called 3G networks as the government seeks to bolster the slowing economy.

The 3G licenses were granted to China Mobile Ltd, China Unicom Ltd and China Telecom Corp, Wang Lijian, a Beijing-based spokesman for the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said by telephone. Services based on 3G allow faster downloads of Web pages, videos and music to handsets.

"The biggest winners are the equipment makers," Cheung said. "Foreign vendors are going to get the most contracts in dollar terms."