The Chinese government, the media, and now local and foreign companies are all supporting China's race to develop its own cellular data standard, having recently received approval from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) as a 3G standard despite fears that it may be sidelined by well-established global platforms.
China's vice minister of information industry Lou Qinjian said that the ministry will continue to provide support for domestic telcom innovation, with approximately US$73 million to be invested in TD-SCDMA research.
It is hoped that the huge number of consumers will drive foreign corporations to adopt Chinese standards for the China market. Through cheap pricing of licenses more cheaply, policymakers hope to see products with China-developed technology become popular throughout the world.