China claims first 4G mobile system, but is it?

Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 30 January 2007 02:06

Business IT - Technology

Ki Tae Lee, president of Samsung's Telecommunications Network Business, said that Samsung hoped to "drive development and standardisation of 4G mobile technology ...and realise our dream to begin the 4G era." He added "We hope to work with associated parties for the successful commercialisation of 4G technology."

In mid 2004 South Korea, Japan and China were reported to be collaborating on 4G technology. The joint initiative was aimed at creating phones for commercial use around 2010 and aimed at choking off the economic drain historically imposed on Asian cellphone makers by royalty payments for 2G and 3G technologies largely invented elsewhere.

The Korean Ministry of Information and Communication signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Chinese Government in March 2002 to cooperate in a number of aspects of 4G, including standardisation and service policies.

China initiated its 4G research project in 2001 under the label Future Technology for Universal Radio Environment, or FuTURE Project, which is included in the national high-tech development plan. The country has set a goal of conducting field tests of the 4G system and putting it into trial commercial use between 2006 and 2010, according to the FuTURE Project.

"The Shanghai system shows that we have entered the final phase of our project," said You, also the principal of the FuTURE Project's expert panel.

The report was scant on details of the FuTURE Project saying only that it Involved about 10 leading domestic institutions, had obtained more than 200 patents and that "some of its core technologies have been adopted by international standards organizations, positioning China as one of the world's front-runners in 4G technologies."