According to Zhu Jun, deputy director for the communication development department of China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, in the first half of 2009, China's three major telecom operators totally invested about CNY80 billion in 3G projects.

Zhu made the remarks to local media and said since the issuance of the 3G licenses in China, Chinese telecom operators have attached great importance to the development of this new business and have invested much manpower into the construction of 3G networks.

So far, China Mobile has completed its construction of the second-phase TD-SCDMA project, providing 3G services in 38 Chinese cities. Its third-phase 3G project which is undergoing construction is expected to extend its 3G services to 238 cities by the end of this year. In addition, China Telecom has opened its CDMA networks in 342 cities and China Unicom has opened WCDMA networks in 100 cities.

Stimulated by those 3G investments, China's communication equipment manufacturing industry realized profits of CNY13.9 billion in the first five months of 2009, an increase of 35.1% compared with the same period of last year.

In addition, the 3G services have brought business opportunities to small and medium-sized value-added enterprises and created more jobs. The issuance of 3G licenses also promoted the rapid growth of mobile Internet by adding 26.228 million new WAP users and 29.385 million new mobile Web users in the first half of 2009.