BEIJING-Sony Ericsson is considering applying for a CDMA handset manufacturing license in China. If a new license is unavailable, the company may team with one of the 19 handset makers that hold CDMA licenses. Among the 19, Motorola is the only foreign company.
Staffan Soderqvist, executive vice president for sales and marketing of Sony Ericsson China, said a decision would be based on how quickly China Unicom upgrades its CDMA technology, not on the rate of CDMA subscriber growth.
China Unicom had 2.3 million CDMA subscribers at the end of August and hopes to have 7 million by the end of the year.
Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics agreed to sell China Unicom 700,000 CDMA 1x handsets by the end of the year. The handsets have color screens, variable ring tones and built-in digital cameras. The deal is worth US$400 million. The handsets will be priced at a relatively expensive 4,700 yuan (US$569).
China Unicom plans to buy 1.5 million CDMA 1x handsets by the end of the year and is also looking to other suppliers.
