The waiting game for 3G licenses to be issued in China looks like it will drag on, despite the recent launch of China Mobile’s trial for the standard—involving up to 60,000 users in eight cities across the country. The Chinese government may well put it off “another one or two years,” according to Reuters, quoting an Ernst & Young partner in a local press report. Global telecommunications E&Y partner Jonathan Dharmapalan believes the launch of TD-SCDMA will take the same path GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) did in Europe, where the standard gained traction only after 12 to 18 months of commercial trials.

China’s government has said it hoped to have 3G services available in time for this year’s Olympics, but it’s unclear from the article whether this will happen. It’s also unclear as to why the government is dragging its heels on the licenses. It has long been speculated that the government was holding off on issuing licenses until TD-CDMA had time to take off, but Dharmapalan said he expects China to launch licenses for W-CDMA and CDMA2000—well-established standards for 3G outside of China--along with the local standard.

• China Mobile To Begin Testing Homegrown 3G Standard TD-SCDMA
• China Mobile To Have TD-SCDMA In 8 Cities By Years End; Olympic Services Possible