China Mobile has selected ST-Ericsson's company in China, T3G, as a major technology partner for the development of its high-end and low-cost handsets, based on the 3G standard TD-SCDMA. ST-Ericsson will also support four of its customers in order to commercialise their mobile phones during 2009-2010.
Under the agreement, ST-Ericsson, in turn a 50/50 JV between Ericsson and STMicroelectronics, will develop a new low-cost platform to support its customers and thus offer affordable TD-SCDMA devices to China consumers. ST-Ericsson will also support customers in developing high-end mobile phones, based on existing and new platforms such as the T7210, which will allow consumers to enjoy high-speed broadband and multimedia services.
ST-Ericsson's T7210 mobile platform supports TD-SCDMA dual-band in 2010-2025MHz/1880-1920MHz frequencies, and has successfully completed handovers of voice and high-speed data services in order to operate optimally in Chinese dual-band network environments.
ST-Ericsson's T3G technology has also powered a number of claimed industry firsts in TD-SCDMA, eg, the world's first ASIC based TD-SCDMA system level call and the world's first international TD-SCDMA call, both achieved in 2004, and the world's first R4 (384kb/s) commercial TD-SCDMA dual-mode Samsung phone, powered by T3G's chipset, in 2005.
In China's TD-SCDMA deployment plans, the core operating frequency band 2010-2025MHz will be used to construct a nationwide network offering voice and low-speed data services, while the 1880-1920MHz band will be used for high-speed data services over TD-HSDPA/HSUPA/HSPA+.
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