Nokia to use Chinese 3G technology

Nokia will begin selling phones based on China’s TD-SCDMA technology next year, according to local press reports.The world’s largest mobile phone maker expects to have handsets available during the first half of 2008.TD-SCDMA is China’s home-developed 3G standard. The government has strongly backed the standard in an attempt to reduce China’s reliance on expensive foreign technology.However, the rollout of 3G phones in the country has been delayed for years while bugs in TD-SCDMA are ironed out.Although 3G networks have still not been officially launched in China, the market for TD-SCDMA equipment reached $910m in the first quarter of 2007, according to research firm Analysys International.The spending is believed to be almost entirely devoted to infrastructure, as 3G handsets are not yet on sale.Local firms ZTE and Datang are leading TD-SCDMA sales with 46.3 per cent and 26.8 per cent of the market respectively.