China?s telecommunication market is boasting the greatest number of mobile telecom subscribers in the world. The market would continue to grow in 2006 while witnessing a fiercer competition among carriers and vendors. China is a country where the government?s influence on and interference in the telecom market is quite strong. In 2006, the Chinese government will establish some major telecom policies.

There would be a keen competition between foreign handset and telecom device vendors operating in China and domestic players that are strengthening their competitiveness in response to the government-led sea change in the industry.

Major market changes driven by the government are summarized as follow:

1) Selection of 3G technology standard and 3G service licensees

One of the core issues in the Chinese telecom market is the selection of 3G technology standards and the allocation of 3G service licenses. The three standards of WCDMA, CDMA 2000 and the home-grown TD-SCDMA are all likely to be chosen.

2) Booming
M&A
An M&A boom in the entire telecom market would be accelerated in 2006. This would be the result of the government?s interference. After the selection of 3G technology standard and service providers, M&A would be encouraged as part of market stimulation.

The aforementioned two government interferences alone would trigger some different ramifications across the telecom industry.

ROA Group has analyzed the strong will of the Chinese government to control and boost the telecom market in 2006 and selected technology & service issues and device issues that would be influenced by it either directly or indirectly.

First, this report takes a look at major telecom policies of the Chinese government in 2006, the most important factor in the market. Second, this report focuses on ten issues regarding technology, service and device that would be influenced either directly or indirectly.

This report pays a careful attention to the government policies because the government?s policy direction and determination has a strong influence on the entire telecom market in China. The emergence of new technologies, service and terminals is possible only after the government policy is determined. Moreover, market stimulation tends to be driven by the government will, rather than that of telecom firms.

Research Methodology

For this report, ROA Group has conducted a wide-ranging secondary research as well as study of relevant documents and primary research.

Who should read this report?

This report is useful for foreign vendors and telecom service providers operating in China as it raises the level of understanding of the overall telecom market in 2006. This report can also be

a good reference for solution vendors and content providers, both domestic and foreign, which have interest in services based on new networks such as WiMax and VoIP.