China will invest 280 billion yuan (US$40.96 billion) in developing third-generation (3G) mobile telecommunications networks over the next two years, said Li Yizhong, head of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, on Friday.

He said the government will give "strong support" to promote the self-developed TD-SCDMA (Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access) standard. Efforts will be made to enhance industrialization of core chips, terminals and test equipment as well as to expand network coverage.

3G networks handle faster data downloads, allowing cell phone users to make video calls and watch TV programs.

The country's top three telecom companies are expected to receive 3G licenses either this month or at the beginning of next year. China Mobile will apply TD-SCDMA, while China Unicom and China Telecom will use Europe's WCDMA and North America's CDMA 2000 respectively.

(Xinhua News Agency December 19, 2008)