By Brian Dolby
    Datang CTO and CIO Shanzhi Chen believes that TD-SCDMA—China’s home-grown 3G standard—has considerable potential in emerging markets such as Africa and South America.
    In an exclusive show Daily interview,he said the low capex and opex involved with TD-SCDMA makes it ideal for operators with limited budgets and customer bases comprised of people on relatively low income levels.
    Datang has championed TD-SCDMA since it became a founder of the TD-SCDMA Industry Alliance in 2002.It is now the number one system provider to China Mobile,with 30 per cent market share to the giant operator,which has plans to roll out its 3G services across 238 Chinese cities.
    “There are over 700 million mobile subscribers in China already,”pointed out Chen, “but the penetration varies greatly,going from more than one device per person in Beijing to less than 20 per cent in Gui Zhou province.The potential is still enormous. ”
    Chen also revealed that Datang is attempting to support the Chinese Government’s ICT initiative with a partnership with computer manufacturers Acer.The two organisations are looking to develop PC with built-in TD-SCDMA that will prove ideal for customers looking for a first time buy.
    “Datang is involved in the whole process of TD-SCDMA-from chip design to network infrastructure and terminals-and we can take advantage of Chinese manufacturing capabilities to offer a total service to our customers,”said Chen.
    (The official daily newspaper of ITU Telecom World 2009)