No.357 January 16, 2009
Special Issues  
  USITO Hosts Sino-US Innovation Coop Forum

Detail
 
Notice: USITO's Three New Work Groups
 

On Jan.13th, 2009 Tuesday, the Sino-U.S. Innovation Cooperation Forum was successfully held in the Fairmont Hotel of San Jose. USITO, CCCME and SIA jointly hosted the event, with supporting parties including AeA, ITI, SIIA, TIA and CEA. Over 100 USITO member company representatives and friends attended the event. It started at 2pm with Mr John Garamend, Lieutenant Governor of California, opening the session, followed by MOFCOM vice minister Jiang Yaoping's Speech.

Top Stories: WAPI Issue Rears Head?

USITO Special Update on WAPI Issue, January 2009

WAPI issue seems to rear its head recently in China 's telecom sector. Rumors began prevailing since last Fall that China's MIIT would soon approve WLAN enabled mobile phones, which must support both Wi-Fi and WAPI. The rumor seemed justified, given the large scale industry roll-out for Wi-Fi services. China's regulatory authority was in a compelling position to show clear stances on the issue. It was confirmed soon that Chinese authorities was in intensive discussion about the schedule of the mandate, and pilot programs were on.

USITO Notes: USITO's lastest information is that there are again substantial development in this issue in recent days. Based on interviews with member companies and Chinese officials, we have developed an update report on the WAPI issue. USITO members please click here for the report.



China-made supercomputer to debut

According local media report, China's homemade supercomputer, Dawning 5000A, is expected to debut in Shanghai this April.

Sources from the Tianjin-based Dawning Information Industry Co. said that, the supercomputer is able to reach a peak capability of more than 200 trillion FLOPS (Floating-point operations per second), and will be used for information processing and fundamental scientific research at the Shanghai Supercomputer Center (SSC).

Dawning 5000A will be used to help with weather forecasting, construction of seabed tunnels, environmental protection, large passenger aircraft production and earthquake predictions, according to the SSC. The machine covers a floor space of 75 square meters and consumes 700 kilowatts per hour. It was paid for by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) and Shanghai Municipal Government. The cost for building the computer is around RMB 200 milion (USD 29 million). tech.sina.com.cn, 1/12/2009

USITO Notes: The supercomputer project, initiated in 1995, has recently become one of the key projects to be encouraged in China's hi-tech blueprint for the next 15 years. As Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said early this week, China plans to spend RMB 600 billion for the 16 hi-tech projects, six of which are in the information technology industry like core eletronics components (including supercomputers), high-end chips, software, etc. USITO and SIA will jointly issue a special report on the 16 special projects next week.

The Dawning 5000A, though praised the "China homegrown supercomputer", is yet to possess its own CPU technologies by carrying the AMD-made chips. The local media have widely applauded the "low cost" of Dawning 5000A, since the initial spending was merely a quarter of IBM's "Roadrunner". But it sounds a bit doubtful to have cost as the key index when evaluating innovation.

3G Update: Carriers Unveil Rollout Plans

As reported in the last issue of USITO weekly, China granted three 3G licenses on January 7. In the following days, the three telecom carriers successively released their rollout plans for their 3G business. China Unicom said it plans to officially launch its WCDMA business on 5/17/2009, the World Telecommunications Day; China Telecom vowed to make CDMA2000 service available soon, and China Mobile also announced a huge budget of USD 8.6 billion for the homegrown TD. Please click here for related reports: China Unicom(service available on May 17; 55 cities to provide WCDMA soon), China Telecom, and China Mobile.

Android Mobile Phone to Launch in China

The O-phone will be the first 3G mobile phone based on the Google platform to be launched on the mainland. It is developed by China Mobile, who has already provided smartphone products based on Microsoft Corp's Windows Mobile platform for its mainland-developed TD-SCDMA 3G service. Detail

IT Market 2009 To Grow 9.1%

China's IT market in 2009 is expected to reach USD 71.16b, from initial expectations of USD 74.63b, growing 9.1%, compared with 13.5% in 2008. Detail
Selected Chinese Media Reports



Bidding for Phase III Project to Close by End of March

Sources said that the proposed bidding procedures for China Mobile's TD project phase III will conclude by the end of this March, followed immediately by the construction of TD network. 57,400 base stations will be newly built at phase III to expand the coverage of TD network. China Mobile Chairman Wang Jianzhou onced stated that as of 2011, TD network will expand to all the cities in Chinese mainland. Chinese Text

Huawei Deployes First LTE Network in Europe

On January 15, Huawei announced a deal signed with TeliaSonera, the largest telecom carrier in north Europe and the Baltic Sea region, for constructing the world's first LTE commercial network in Oslo, Norway's capital city. According to the contract, Huawei will deliver to TeliaSonera the end-to-end LTE solution, including base stations, core network, operations and support system, network planning and implementation. Chinese Text

China Mobile to Invest Big in 2009

On January 10, China Mobile released its 2009 TD-SCDMA development program. Under the program, RMB 58.8b will be invested in 2009 to increase about 60,000 TD base stations, thus bringing the total number of TD base stations to more than 80,000. Upon the completion of this program, 238 cities at prefecture level can enjoy TD-SCDMA services, accounting for over 70% of China's total. Chinese Text

Huawei Wins 3G Contract from Costarica

Insituto Costarricense de Electricidad announced on January 9 that China's Huawei Technologies outplayed other rivals to win the first 3G network contract from Costarica. According to the gazette of the company, the bid of Huawei was USD 235m to be financed by Central American Bank of Economic Integration. Chinese Text

Unified SMS Rate Fixed

According to a circular issued by MIIT on the elimination of SMS rates discrimination between different networks, China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom all announced their plans to charge unified SMS rate starting from January 15, and RMB 0.1 is indiscriminately charged for each short message. Chinese Text

First EVDO 3G Handset Makes Debut

Immediately following the date of 3G licensing for three telecom carriers, ZTE announced the availability of its first EVDO 3G handset D90. D90 as China's first 3G handset type supporting EVDO service incorporates CDMA2000 1x EVDO technology, and can enable two-way high-speed transmission of data. Chinese Text

Microsoft Sues Top STB Manufacturer

Shanghai Dare Information Industry Co., Ltd. is said to have loaded at least 9 types of pirated Microsoft software in its office computers, and now has to respond to a suit brought by Microsoft. Microsoft's attorney also lodged a claim totalling over RMB 480,000, and appealed to the court to impose civil sanctions upon Dare currently using pirated software. Chinese Text

UFIDA Software Wins Top Prize

At the 2008 China Annual Human Resources Awards Ceremony, UFIDA Software was rated as China 's eHR Software Maker of 2008, the only winner of such prize. Chinese Text

Global Innovation Index: China Ranks 48 th in Infrastructures

Institut Europ¨¦en d'Administration des Affaires published a ˇ°global innovation indexˇ± report. According to the report, U.S. ranked first in the world and China claimed 37th place. In infrastructures development including telecom infrastructures, China ranked 48 th , far ahead of India's 76 th place. Chinese Text

China Delivers Communication Satellite to Venezuela

China Great Wall Industry Corporation announced on January 11 that it on-orbit delivered on this day to Venezuela the Venezuela Communication Satellite 1 (Venesat 1) and relevant ground measurement and control system and telecom port system. This on orbit delivery marks the successful export of whole satellite system to Venezuela from China. This is the first time China exported and on orbit delivered whole satellite system to users in Latin America. Chinese Text

Telecom Market in West China Open to Foreign Investment

On January 13, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and Ministry of Commerce jointly issued the Catalogue of Priority Industries for Foreign Investment in the Central-Western Region (2008 revision), which further expanded the scope of industries for opening to foreign investors. This has been the second revision since the release of such catalogue in 2000. New catalogue contains value-added telecom services as an addition. Chinese Text

  


BOE Expands Hefei Branch's Capital

BOE announced that the company has added RMB 300 million to the registered capital of Hefei BOE unilaterally, for expanding the branch's capital. Hefei BOE mainly works on the project of six generation TFT-LCD production line currently. Chinese Text

Polycrystalline Silicon Project Starts Operation

A celebration was held by Asia Silicon (Qinghai) on January 10 for the polycrystalline silicon project with annual capacity of 1,000 tons. This marks the production facility on Qinghai-Tibet Plateau started operation successfully, and the photovoltaic i ndustry in Qinghai has come up with the international advanced level. The total investment of this project hits USD 99.8m . Chinese Text

ˇ°Home Appliances to Rural Areasˇ± Program to Be Launched Across China

The bidding procedures for the ˇ°Home Appliances to Rural Areasˇ± program has concluded, and the list of home appliances chosen will be released very soon. Starting from February 1, 2009, the program will be launched across China. Chinese Text Performance Rankings of Government Websites

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced on January 11 the rankings of government websites in performance in 2008. The websites of the Ministry of Commerce, Beijing Municipality , Shenzhen City and Shanghai Hongkou District ranked first in different groups. Chinese Text

91 Websites Closed Down

On January 10, 50 websites were closed for disseminating pornographic and vulgar information and contents and thus violating a series of regulations. Since January 8, a total of 91 such websites have been closed down. Chinese Text

Shanda Partners with Kingsoft

Shanda Entertainment announced on January 13 that it entered into strategic partnership with Kingsoft. Under the deal, Kingsoft authorized Shanda to operate its online game titled Warrior's Online World, and Shanda's online platform can deliver another online game of Kingsoft. ˇ°The essense of this partnership is that both sides utilize respective resources to operate an online game, ˇ± Kingsoft Chairman Qiu Bojun commented. Chinese Text

Chinese Netizens Amount to 298m

CNNIC published the 23 rd Report on Internet Developments Survey in China on January 13. The report shows that as of the end of 2008, Chinese netizens reached 298m , and mobile netizens amounted to 113.7m . According to the report, the Internet penetration rate is 22.6%, higher than the world average 21.9% for the first time, ranking first in the world. Chinese Text

E-Game Industry Sees RMB18.38b Sales Income

On January 14, the 2008 Annual Conference of Chinese e-Game Industry was held in Qingdao. The conference published the Summary of 2008 Report on Survey of Chinese e-Game Industry. According to statistics, in 2008 China's e-game market posted a sales income of RMB18.38b, a 76.6% growth over 2007. The report forecasts the actual sales income of Chinese e-game industry will hit RMB 39.76b in 2013, witnessing a compound growth rate of 16.7% from 2007 to 2013. Chinese Text

Analysys: C 2C Market Hits RMB 112.1b in 2008

On January 13, Analysys International released the 2009 Annual Report on C 2C Online Retail Market in China. Analysys forecasts in the report that the sales volume of China's C 2C online retail market will hit RMB 112.1b in 2008, up 139.5% compared with 2007. According to the analysis of Analysys, since 2006, Taobao.com has acquired increasingly dominant position in this market, contributing 86% to the market's total volume in 2008. Chinese Text

Rivals to Sue Baidu, Call for Antitrust Investigation

Wang Fengchang, Chairman of Internet Antitrust Alliance and CEO of laweach.com, said that his alliance has decided to join hands with over 100 websites to sue Baidu for shielding for malicious purpose, blackmail-style marketing, infringing upon trademark right and fraudulent click, and call for State Administration for Industry and Commerce to conduct an antitrust investigation against Baidu. Another website qmyy.com also brought a suit against Baidu on December 25, 2008, and the case has been received by Beijing First Intermediate Peoples Court. Chinese Text

SBSM Launches Online Map Program

The State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping (SBSM) has made strategic decision to launch a national geographic information public service platform. This marks a fundamental change to traditional services in delivering China's basic geographic information. Upon the completion of this project, comprehensive geographic information services will be provided to the public in the way similar to Google Earth. Chinese Text

USITO selected and translated the news summaries above. If you are interested in learning more details about the above Chinese language links, you are welcome to contact us (wenjie@usito.org) to sponsor the translation of that report.

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