BEIJIGN, June 4 -- China will tender contracts in October worth 4 billion to 6 billion yuan (523-785 million U.S. dollars) for handsets based on the country¡¯s homegrown third-generation (3G) mobile phone standard, its first big procurement offer, an industry group said Friday.

    Eighteen companies are expected to bid for contracts offered by China Mobile, the world¡¯s largest wireless carrier, to make 2 million handsets based on the TD-SCDMA (time division synchronous code division multiple access) standard, said Chen Haofei, secretary general of the Beijing-based TD-SCDMA Forum.

    Firms expected to bid include Shenzhen-based ZTE Corp. and Huawei Technologies, and Datang Telecom Technology , Samsung Electronics , LG Electronics , Motorola , as well as Haier Electronics Group Co.

    ¡°It is the first large-scale purchase, because it¡¯s reached one million to two million,¡± Chen said in a phone interview. He said it is still too early to say which company may get the biggest share of the tender.

    The TD-SCDMA Forum was established in 2000 by eight firms -- China Mobile, China Telecom, China Unicom, Datang, Huawei, Motorola, Nortel and Siemens -- according to its Web site, to promote the standard.

    After years of delay and with a potential US$10 billion of network gear orders in the balance, the government recently extended precommercial TD-SCDMA trials to 10 cities from five.

    The extended 3G trial, which authorities said was necessary to ensure a smooth start-up of the data-rich standard, could last until the end of October, analysts have said.

    China, which hopes to offer high-quality broadband Web access for visitors to the 2008 Olympics, is not expected to roll out 3G until later this year, or even next year, they added.

    (Source: Shenzhen Daily)