China has no timetable for issuing third-generation mobile telephone licences, a senior regulator announced yesterday, saying 3G services still lacked a clear business model.

娄勤俭的话清楚表明，中国官方并不急于把3G无线服务引入这个全球最重要的电信设备市场之一。

The comments by Lou Qinjian, vice-minister of information industry, make clear officials are in no rush to introduce 3G wireless¹ services in one of the world’s most important markets for telecoms equipment.

国际电信设备制造商多年来一直在热切期盼中国批准3G。一旦批准，估计会在中国掀起巨大的移动网络设备采购浪潮。

International equipment manufacturers have for years keenly awaited Chinese approval for 3G, which is expected to unleash² a multibillion-dollar spending wave on mobile networks.

娄勤俭在中共十七大期间的一次记者招待会上表示，尽管3G技术在国际上已经“成熟”，但“目前尚未有很好的”运营模式与后续发展能力。这种记者招待会在中国共产党的全国代表大会上比较少见。

While 3G technology was “mature” internationally, its operating model and capacity for future development were “still not that great”, Mr Lou said in a rare news conference held to mark the congress of China's ruling Communist party in Beijing.

娄勤俭表示：“真正发牌还要考虑运营模式问题和各种管理问题，目前这些问题还在研究过程中。”

“To actually issue licences, we need to consider the business model and all kinds of management issues – and we are still in the process of researching these,” Mr Lou said.

一些分析人士认为，中国政府延迟批准的主要原因，是想让它支持的TD-SCDMA技术能够赶上使用更为广泛的欧洲WCDMA标准和美国CDMA2000标准。

Some analysts³ believe Beijing's main reason for delay is to allow its favoured TD-SCDMA 3G technology to catch up with the much more widely used European-backed WCDMA standard and its US rival CDMA2000.

全球最大移动电话制造商诺基亚(Nokia)的首席执行官康培凯(Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo)表示，“很明显”，TD-SCDMA会成为中国使用的3G技术之一。

Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, chief executive of Nokia, the world’s largest mobile phone maker⁴, said it was “very clear” TD-SCDMA would be one of the 3G technologies used in China.

沃达丰(Vodafone)等移动运营商已对3G移动服务进行了大张旗鼓的宣传，例如3G服务的网页浏览速度更快。它们已经向新网络投入了巨资。

Mobile operators such as Vodafone have hyped up 3G mobile services such as faster web browsing⁵ after multibillion spending on new networks.

然而，迄今为止，欧美消费者并没有对这些服务表现出太大兴趣。

American and European consumers, however, have so far shown limited appetite for the services.

显然，中国政府担心，对4大国有电信运营商来说，新的3G网络可能不会带来太高的回报。中国4大国有电信运营商均在海外上市。

Beijing is clearly concerned that China’s new 3G networks might prove a poor return for its four big state-controlled but internationally listed operators.

中国第二大移动运营商中国联通(China Unicom)的董事长常小兵昨天表示，3G在全球的发展已经表明，政府不急于发放牌照的做法“没有错”。

Chang Xiaobing, chairman of China Unicom, the country’s number two mobile operator, yesterday said the global development of 3G had shown the government “was not wrong” not to rush to issue licences.