According to an insider from China Mobile, the Chinese telecommunications regulators have issued an order to close the Chinese personal access system, which is also known as Little Smart, before the end of 2011.

This order is viewed as a measure to clear the way for the development of the Chinese home-grown 3G standard TD-SCDMA, because the 1900-1920MHz frequency band of Little Smart is close to the 1880-1900MHz frequency band of TD-SCDMA and may interfere with the service signals of the latter.

The news has been confirmed by China Telecom and China Unicom representatives, who say that they have received the relevant document from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and will prepare for the complete withdrawal of Little Smart, though neither of the two companies mentioned how to deal with the remaining users of this service.

Started in 1997, China's Little Smart now has 69.83 million users. Technically known as the personal access system, it is a city-wide wireless communications technology based on the fixed-line network. Its low radiation and low costs compared with general mobile phones has gained it many fans who choose not to purchase the more expensive GSM or CDMA handsets.