Will they, won’t they? China flip-flops on 3G – again!

The government of China has debunked earlier reports that it has decided on a timetable for issuing 3G mobile licences. Xi Guohua, the Vice Minister of Information Industry, said he was aware of ‘people or companies talking about when we’re going to give the licences’, but reiterated that the state had, as yet, taken no official decision. Last month press reports suggested that the MII was planning to award 3G licences at USD2.4 billion each to China Mobile, China Network Communications and China Telecom Corp following a revamp of the telecoms industry. On 2 March Chen Jinqiao, a director of telecoms policy at the MII, said that the ministry would submit its final proposal to the State Council ‘sometime this year’.