China Mobile has announced plans to issue TD-SCDMA numbers in eight Chinese cities from April 1.
The eight Chinese cities are Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Shenyang, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Xiamen and Qinhuangdao. Users in these cities can subscribe to the 3G service by purchasing a mobile phone number prefixed with 157. The fee for local outgoing calls is RMB0.4 per minute and it is free for answering incoming calls. China Mobile said that it would offer users 50% discounts for the service during the trial commercial period.
The numbers to be issued will be used for both social terminal service testing and trial commercial use. China Mobile will first invite about 20000 clients from different industries to participate in the testing and offer them data cards worth about RMB2000-4000 as well as a RMB800 subsidy. It will also initiate the trial commercial use of TD and push it to the market.
In addition, China Mobile also launched three packages for voice service, which are priced at RMB28 (for 150 minutes calls), RMB58 (for 350 minutes calls) and RMB88 (for 600 minutes calls).
AsiaInfo has signed a contract with Henan Mobile, a subsidiary of China Mobile, to develop its Business Operation Support Systems.
"We are excited to increase our market share within the China Mobile market and extend our geographic reach into Henan Province," said Steve Zhang, AsiaInfo's president and chief executive officer. "AsiaInfo's industry-leading BOSS solutions offer operators reliable, scalable features that accommodate increasing subscriber growth and provide the flexibility needed to adapt to rapidly changing end-user demands. Our innovative, best-of-class products enable the evolution of China's telecom industry, and this contract further enhances our position as the leading provider of telecom software and service solutions in the world's largest telecom market."
According to the National Bureau of Statistics of China, Henan had a total population of 98 million in 2007 and has a total of 31 million mobile subscribers and a mobile phone penetration rate of 31%.
Under the terms of the contract, AsiaInfo will deploy its OpenBOSS solution, which complies with China Mobile's latest BOSS 3.0 specifications. The system is designed to support approximately 40 million subscribers. With the completion of this contract, a total of 10 China Mobile subsidiaries will have employed AsiaInfo's BOSS solutions.
China's State Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Information Industry, Ministry of Commerce and State Administration of Taxation have jointly released a list of key software enterprises to enjoy preferential taxation.
According to the list, 162 software companies will be eligible to receive the preferential taxation and they include China Software, UFIDA, Bright Oceans Corporation, Handsun Electronics, Digital China, Chinasoft International, Founder International and Kingsoft.
According to China's regulation on encouraging the development of the software and integrated circuit industry, these companies will pay 10% less on their income taxes.
China Mobile has just released its CSR Report 2007, detailing the company's corporate social responsibility activities in China last year.
Wang Jianzhou, president of China Mobile, says that China Mobile continued to expand its core values of "working with high responsibility and pursuing perfection" in 2007. He said that China Mobile fulfilled its concept of corporate social responsibility and tried to realize harmonious growth between enterprise and industry, and society and the natural environment, by implementing its four major principles of "countryside, life, culture and green".
Through implementing its rural projects, China Mobile opened telephone service for 4676 administrative villages and 5367 natural villages in 2007, making communications service available to a total of 39784 administrative villages. During the year, the company also released over 1 billion pieces of information for up to 6 million farmers.
In 2007, China Mobile donated RMB50 million, and it also started the Love Foundation with the All-China Women's Federation. The report also details how the telecommunications company provided life and study aids to over 10,000 orphans whose parents had died of HIV/AIDS in China.
Local media reports that China Telecom will soon cancel its Northern Business Department and the company is currently working on re-arranging the personnel of the department.
Enet.com.cn reports that China Telecom previously dissolved its Internet Business Department due to an unclear profit pattern of the department.
A senior manager from China Telecom has confirmed that China Telecom is making an internal adjustment and transferring the personnel of the Internet Business Department to the newly established Family Clients Department and Large Clients Department.
Ye Lisheng, general manager of the former Internet Business Department of China Telecom, is said to have been transferred to work as deputy general manager of China Telecom's Marketing Department, while others who are not on the formal list of the company's human resource department may be fired.
China Telecom will also set up an Individual Business Department in the future to mainly serve wireless and 3G consumers.
News Telephone China 
