China Telecom started the first step of the commercial run of the 3G wireless broadband services in Beijing on Friday.

There was a heavy rush for the services at the Beijing Telecom office in Xidan soon after it opened for the day at 9 am. And they were not disappointed as the procedures for the high-speed wireless Internet services took just a few minutes to complete.

"The 3G wireless broadband is 20 times faster than the 2G services," said Wei Tao, director of the Xidan business hall. "Currently, the wireless network covers 97 percent of Beijing," he said.

More than 10,000 people had already applied for the service prior to Friday and many more are expected to come in the next few days. Wei said the 3G services are targeted at young people and those who make frequent business trips.

Anticipating the rush for the services, Beijing Telecom has already extended the business hours of its 60 offices from 6 pm to 8 pm.

The high price for the service is still a concern for many prospective customers, but they expect the faster speeds to more than offset this disadvantage.

"Though 3G prices are a bit too high for me, I am not too worried, as I look for high speed when I download music and movies," said Cui Lei, a prospective subscriber

The young man said he had been using the 2G wireless services till now, but would prefer to switch to 3G as he found that it was faster during the free trials at the Xidan office.

In a bid to attract more subscribers for 3G, Beijing Telecom is running a promotional scheme from April 3 to June 30, whereby it is offering a 3G data card and free Internet access for one month to those subscribers who pay the charges for six months or for one year in advance.

Wei said Beijing Telecom plans to launch the 3G mobile phone services in May. However, the mobile service does not seem to be as attractive as the high-speed wireless broadband, said many prospective users.

"I won't buy a 3G mobile phone of Beijing Telecom. I think 2G is still the mainstream for mobile phones, and my present phone is adequate for my requirements," said Yin Zhenggang, who was finishing the formalities for the 3G wireless service at the counter.

(China Daily April 4, 2009)