Finnish telecoms giant Nokia has signed a deal with China Putian Corp to form a joint venture to develop and market third-generation (3G) mobile telecommunication technology.
The venture, pending government approval, will involve an investment of 900 million yuan (US$111 million), according to Friday's China Daily.
Putian, a major Chinese telecoms equipment maker, will have a 51 percent stake and Nokia, 49 percent.
Based on the European-initiated WCDMA standard and the Chinese TD-SCDMA standard, the venture will engage in research and development, manufacturing and marketing of 3G equipment and solutions.
The joint venture is expected to launch commercial products based on the two standards next year, the paper quoted David Ho, president of Nokia (China) Investment Co. Ltd, as saying.
Unlike the other two major global 3G standards, WCDMA and CDMA-2000, the Chinese standard TD-SCDMA remains an unproven technology as it is not yet in commercial use. However, it has been gaining momentum in recent months.
(Xinhua News Agency October 14, 2005)
