China Mobile to spend $8.6b on 3G stations

China Mobile plans to invest US$8.6 billion building 60,000 new third-generation (3G) mobile communications base stations, Reuters reported. China Mobile says the investment will increase the number of China Mobile's 3G base stations to 80,000. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology awarded China Mobile a license Wednesday to operate a 3G network based on domestically developed TD-SCDMA 3G technology. The ministry said last month that spending on 3G equipment by Chinese telecom companies will total US$41 billion over the next two years.