China licenses 19 CDMA-handset manufacturers

BEIJING—The English-language China Daily newspaper published a list of 19 licensed CDMA handset producers in its 31 August edition. The Ministry of Information Industry (MII) indicated it would not issue more licenses as the 19 manufacturers is already more than the market can absorb.
Only one foreign company, Motorola (China) Electronics, made the list. Other foreign vendors will have to team up with Chinese companies on the list if they still want to enter the lucrative Chinese market.
Hitachi, Japan’s major CDMA mobile-phone manufacturer, announced an agreement with Hisense to get control of 10 percent of the market.
China Unicom plans to start operating a CDMA network in October that will have an initial capacity of 15.5 million subscribers and cover 300 cities.
The list of 19 licensed manufacturers in alphabetical order is as follows: Beijing Capitel, China Electronic Corp. (CEC), China Kejian, China PTIC Tianjin Telephone Equipment, China Zhenhua Science & Technology, Dalian Daxian Group, Datang Telecom Technology, Guangzhou Soutec, Hangzhou Eastcom Mobile Phone, Motorola (China) Electronics, Nanjing PTIC Telecom, Ningbo Bird, Qingdao Haier Group, Qingdao Hisense Group, Shandong Langchao Group, Shenzhen Konka Group, Shenzhen Zhongxing Telecom (ZTE), TCL Group, Xiamen Xoxeco.