The series
interview with the executives of TD-SCDMA venders held by
Sina.com Tech Channel and TD-SCDMA Forum will begin in the
coming days. As the opening speech of this series interview,
Sina.com Tech has invited Dr. Wang Jing, the Acting Secretary
General of TD-SCDMA Forum, to discuss some key issues concerning
the TD-SCDMA business.
Introduction:
Dr. Wang Jing studied in Peking University majoring in Mathematics
between 1980 and 1984. From 1992 to 1994, he earned Master
in Computer Science in the University of Texas at Dallas,
Texas, US. In 1989-1993, he studied at Southern Methodist
University and obtained his PhD in Mathematics. During 1994
to 2003, Dr. Wang Jing served in Nortel Networks (Dallas,
US). He worked in the system engineering department as designer,
manager, and senior manager, focusing on the capacity and
performance of TDMA/CDMA/GSM systems and design and optimization
of wireless networking. From 2003 to July 2007, he had been
the Business Development Manager of Nortel Networks (China)
and the chief of TD-SCDMA project, and had been in charge
of business development and marketing of 3G products. March
14, 2005, Dr. Wang Jing was unanimously elected the two
year term of Secretary General of the Forum according to
the TD-SCDMA Forum policies and the decision of 6th Board.
Dr. Wang Jing now works as Acting Secretary General and
Senior Consultant of the TD-SCDMA Forum
Interview:
Interviewer: Hello dear audience and netizens! The series
interview with the executives of TD-SCDMA vendors held jointly
by Sina.com Tech Channel and TD-SCDMA Forum is getting started.
As the key note of 3G interviews at Sina.com Tech, these
interviews will bring about a deep insight on the standard
of TD-SCDMA, R&D of vendors and the development of industry,
and the perspective on future business use.
As the first interview of this TD-SCDMA executive interview
series, today we have invited Dr. Wang Jing here, who is
the Acting Secretary General of TD-SCDMA Forum. We have
also invited Dr. Wang to interview with other executives
of TD-SCDMA vendors. I feel honored to have Dr. Wang Jing
with us. Let¡¯s welcome him.
Wang Jing: Hello dear audience and netizens!
Interviewer: Dr. Wang Jing is a well known person in the
industry with much experience. He has also served as the
Secretary General of TD-SCDMA Forum in the last term, and
helped a lot in the communication and promotion of TD-SCDMA
technology. First, we¡¯d like to invite you to give a brief
introduction of the objective of TD-SCDMA Forum and the
progress that has been made so far.
Wang Jing: TD-SCDMA Forum was founded in December 2000,
when TD-SCDMA technology had been first accepted by the
ITU as one of the 3G standards. This Forum was established
on the joint effort of six telecom operators, major domestic
and international businesses of TD-SCDMA technology. The
co-founders were Datang, Siemens (whose membership has been
replaced by Nokia Siemens Networks), Nortel, Huawei, Motorola,
Alcatel, Qualcomm, UT Starcom. The six major telecom operators
were also among the co-founders of this forum. It was established
in 2000 as the earliest international TD-SCDMA promotion
organization since TD-SCDMA became an international standard.
Interviewer: There¡¯s another organization, the TD-SCDMA
Industry Alliance. What is the difference between TD-SCDMA
Forum and the Industry Alliance about?
Wang Jing: We have a clear difference in objective. The
Alliance was founded in 2002, whose major objective was
to push the industrialization of TD-SCDMA by uniting the
powers of companies. Since it is newly adopted as a standard;
domestic TD-SCDMA enterprises are not powerful enough to
turn it into an industry all on their separated effort,
so they needed to unite, and the Industry Alliance is formed.
Main aim of the Industry Alliance is to develop the industry
by communicating the development plan and progress among
the enterprises, and coordinating the specific activities
related to the industry such as product testing.
The objective of the Forum is about the commercialization,
internationalization and future development of TD-SCDMA.
But the Forum provides an independent and open platform
for communication, which is open to all enterprises, organizations,
and individuals who are interested in TD-SCDMA technology,
providing them with first-hand information of TD-SCDMA technology.
Based on this platform, various communication channels are
available between enterprises and the government, among
enterprises, and among enterprises, analysis and financial
organization, who are all interested in TD-SCDMA. At the
technological aspect, the Forum gathers the resources from
members and international vendors, and addresses the possible
technological challenges in the development of TD-SCDMA
industry by holding seminars and other ways of communication,
thus helping shorten the learning curve of TD-SCDMA of member
organizations. The Forum also works together with technological
organizations in the country in training technical talents
in order to build up talent and technology reserve for the
TD-SCDMA industry.
Another major focal point of TD Forum is the internationalization
of TD-SCDMA, which is a significant issue about it can go
beyond the border and into the future. The Forum has advantages
in this regard, because most of our member are multinational
companies.
The Forum and the Industry Alliance often have chance to
hold events together. Although we have difference in our
objectives, we have good communication and interaction and
are complementary to each other.
Interviewer: How many members do you have at the TD-SCDMA
Forum?
Wang Jing: We have 16 Board members, over 30 senior members
and more than 400 common members. In recent years, there
have been many senior members joining us. As the market
prospect of TD-SCDMA is getting clearer and clearer, many
companies that used to wait and hesitate now begin making
substantial effort in TD-SCDMA.
Interviewer: How are differences between member of the Forum
and Alliance? Is there overlapping?
Wang Jing: Yes, for example, Huawei, Datang and UT Starcom
are members both in the Forum and the Alliance. However
there are many international big companies in the Forum,
not as many in the Alliance.
Interviewer: I guess many member of the TD-SCDMA Alliance
also participate in TD-SCDMA Forum? Like T3G, ADI, and chip
companies such as Spreadtrum.
Wang Jing: Yes. It seems that chip company ADI is not in
the Alliance, since it is a foreign company. It not that
foreign company won¡¯t joint in the Industry Alliance. The
real reason is the Industry Alliance is much industrialized,
and has requirements of cross license of intellectual property
rights. For some foreign companies, it is not easy to make
such promise. Spreadtrum and T3G should be members of the
Industry Alliance.
Interviewer: What is the difference between a board member
and a senior member?
Wang Jing: Board members have the right to manage the Forum.
The annual Board conference plans the key point, direction
and strategy of future work and gives out directive opinion.
They are also in charge of daily work of the Forum. Senior
members don¡¯t have these privileges. At the same time, board
members and senior members have different levels of benefit
at the events and activities of the Forum.
Interviewer: Is it true that most TD-SCDMA Forum members
also participate in the TD Forum?
Wang Jing: Most members of the Alliance are also our members.
We have many international company members and common members,
since we don¡¯t have strict IPR requirements of participation.
Interviewer: Can you please introduce the structure of foreign
company members? For example, how many of them are operator,
how many are manufacturers, and if there are cell phone
producers participating?
Wang Jing: We can say the Forum membership covers every
part of the TD-SCDMA value chain. For example, in device
manufacturers, Datang, TD Tech, Alcatel, Nokia Siemens,
UT Starcom, etc, are all our members. Almost all chip companies
are our members. There are even more terminal companies,
LG, Samsung, Nokia Siemens, and Motorola are all our members.
Many domestic device companies, for example TCL, are our
Board members, even more common members. Also there are
testing device and instrument companies, such as Agilent.
Almost all top testing device companies are our members.
Interviewer: There are some companies like Qualcomm who
are sensitive about this technology. How do they participate
in the TD-SCDMA Forum?
Wang Jing: Qualcomm is the founding member of the Forum
and a Board member. Qualcomm is very interested and active
in participation in the Forum. Although they are not directly
in the TD business, they pay very much attention on the
technology of TD-SCDMA. In my personal opinion, It is positive
for the technology to have a company of abundant experience
both in 3G and 2G as Qualcomm in the Forum, paying attention
on TD-SCDMA. There are many big international companies
in the Forum. The progress of TD-SCDMA needs not only the
effort of the companies in the game, but also the attention
of top international companies. This is beneficial for the
internationalization and future development of TD-SCDMA.
Interviewer: You¡¯ve just mentioned one characteristic of
TD-SCDMA Forum is that it is internationalized. Does that
include telecom operators abroad?
Wang Jing: There has been much participation of foreign
telecom operators in recent years. I joint in the TD-SCDMA
Forum in 2005, as the 3rd Secretary General. There was almost
zero knowledge of TD-SCDMA outside China at that time. I
remember when I was attending an international conference
in Poland, some operators did not know what TD-SCDMA is
at all. No one was interested in it.
As the rapid growth of TD-SCDMA in China, the Chinese market
is getting clearer and clearer, foreign telecom operators
also began paying more attention on TD-SCDMA. From 2006
to 2007, 3G pioneers and top operators in the world, such
as France Telecom, SK Telecom in Korea, and NTT DoCoMo,
have all joined in the TD Forum.
Interviewer: So the Forum is highly inclusive. No matter
what you think about TD-SCDMA, if you are interested in
it, we accept you as member. Is that right?
Wang Jing: Yes, we are open, fair, inclusive and internationalized.
We need all kinds of companies who can participate and discuss
about TD-SCDMA, and can help the growth of TD-SCDMA.
Interviewer: Is it appropriate to say the major objective
of TD Forum is helping Chinese government or helping China
promote TD-SCDMA as a standard?
Wang Jing: There is no doubt that the objective of TD Forum
is to promote the TD-SCDMA technology. But our attention
is not on the industrialization, which is the area of vendors
and the Industry Alliance. We will concentrate more on unite
the powers of international companies and provide all kinds
of promotion and service for TD-SCDMA.
Interviewer: As to the question of 3G, there have been debates
in these years. Some say TD-SCDMA is a disaster and others
say it will be a big push of national telecom industry of
China. What is your opinion of TD-SCDMA, rather than the
opinion of TD Forum?
Wang Jing: I think as the first standard that has been put
forward by Chinese companies, and accepted by the ITU as
international standard, TD-SCDMA is a great milestone. The
significance is about the whole process from the beginning
of standard to industrialization to commercial use, is a
process of development and growth of Chinese telecom enterprises,
which is vital to the industry. In this sense, we can say
TD-SCDMA is already a huge success. This is point one.
Secondly, we can be confident that there is not any disastrous
technological problem in TD-SCDMA, after so many years of
effort and so many cycles of testing. There is not any doubt
that the technology is capable of networking. The next major
challenge that we face, which is much harsher, is how we
can turn it into a success on the market. I think there
are still challenges facing TD-SCDMA. Those challenges come
from the market and users. What we have been practicing
for promoting TD-SCDMA, such as marketing in scale, won¡¯t
be viable. For promoting the commercial use of TD-SCDMA,
we have to find a new way in which the market operates and
business is done. All this needs not only the effort of
vendors, but also continued support from government and
operators.
It is not true to say TD-SCDMA is a disaster. From the aspect
of investment, compared with other telecom standards, TD-SCDMA
is backed by the Chinese way of marketing in scale and strong
support from the government. Given this, its investment
would generally be much less that other 2G, 3G technologies.
This achievement is historic. Or would TD-SCDMA be a disaster
for the Chinese 3G market? The market will tell. I personally
think this is largely not true. The country has a whole
consideration on how the Chinese 3G market would be like,
how big the cake would be and how to make the cake. The
government is supporting TD-SCDMA so strongly, and it has
a thorough development plan. Technically it won¡¯t be a disaster.
Interviewer: The TD-SCDMA infrastructure is also growing
rapidly, and the outlook for commercial use is also favorable.
Actually 4G standard is already on the way, 4G standard
from different countries will be submitted to the ITU by
next year. For the evolvement of TD-SCDMA as an international
standard, can you please give us some information?
Wang Jing: As far as I know, the work of TD involving LTE
future evolvement standard headed by our standardization
association and major enterprises of TD has been on the
way. In my understanding, this would be an ultimate goal
of development. The ultimate goal of TD-SCDMA is neither
3G in China, nor 3G in the world; it has to keep on going.
We are working on this. We will have a TD-SCDMA technological
evolvement forum on the telecom exhibition on October 24.
We'll invite experts in this field from the government and
representatives from vendors to introduce the current steps
in this area.
Interviewer: Will you have a booth on the exhibition?
Wang Jing: We¡¯ll have a meeting, ¡°2007 TD-SCDMA Evolvement
Forum¡±.
Interviewer: Can you please disclose to us the situation
of industrialization of TD-SCDMA, though it¡¯s not exactly
your work?
Wang Jing: Not long ago there had been much coverage in
the media, as far as I know, the ongoing testing covers
10 cities. And the progress is steady. Although in some
cities there is delay due to the location of base stations.
Generally the progress is quite rapid for such a big project.
Network construction in some cities like Qinhuangdao has
finished, and the progress there has moved to next cycle
of testing.
Interviewer: How do you think the situation of TD terminal
units is? Many people are concerning this issue. The networking
will be done in any case, even if it would be one or more
months late. But there are still technological problems
in TD-SCDMA terminals.
Wang Jing: Like other 3G technologies, in the process of
commercial use, terminals are always in a process of improvement.
So expecting TD-SCDMA is mature or immature by a certain
time point is not realistic. TD-SCDMA terminals are an important
part in the value chain compared with other parts. And it
is not doing well enough. The investment, update, and functionalities
of the system are all good and stable. Chip vendors need
to fulfill all the specification and technological demands
of the operators in a certain time span, which could be
challenging. Many functions such as HSDPA and GSM/CDMA automatic
switch have been achieved by terminal vendors, and are in
the process of testing and improvement. The biggest challenge
for terminal venders is how to make a product functionally
and financially attractive to users. The market needs to
be expanded, better appearances and functions of terminals
are needed, all these goals need the top vendors in the
game of terminals. I've always believed it that if we want
the cake of TD-SCDMA bigger in terms of terminal devices,
top vendors of terminals have to participate. Most of our
terminal vendors are domestic companies, and international
vendors like Samsung, LG started early. And the good news
is, Nokia, Motorola, etc. all have plans of entering TD-SCDMA
market.
Interviewer: Are there only plans or substantial investment?
Or have they joined in the Forum?
Wang Jing: Nokia joined in the Forum early this year in
the name of Nokia Siemens Networks. Motorola has been a
member from the very beginning. Many of these companies
have entered the field of TD-SCDMA chips by joint-ventures.
For example, Motorola, Nokia, Phillips, and TI have founded
joint-ventures and invested in companies such as T3G and
Commit. As terminal device companies of TD-SCDMA, we hope
international top vendors such as Motorola and Nokia can
make more substantial effort.
Interviewer: I've written about the applause among domestic
vendors. In recent two years on the CHFT in Shenzhen, most
mobile phones of TD-SCDMA are Chinese brands. But from the
standpoint of the industry, maybe this is not good?
Wang Jing: This is quite natural at the first stage. As
we all know, most of the R&D of this technology is done
by domestic companies. Now, as the early stage of market
entry, it is not strange to see most brands are Chinese.
But if we want TD-SCDMA to be big and strong in the future,
we need not only the continued effort of Chinese companies,
but also the involvement in TD-SCDMA camp of top international
companies, who have very much experience in the market.
Interviewer: Among the top four companies, Nokia, Motorola,
Samsung, Sony Ericsson, only one, that is Samsung, has engaged
in the field. Is that right?
Wang Jing: Samsung started early, made thorough effort.
Interviewer: For the other three companies, the market needs
to be more attractive. And this need to be done according
to the market rules.
Wang Jing: We making a business decision, the international
companies need to go through a comprehensive procedure of
planning and assessment. They will enter the market only
when they are confident enough. All these conditions are
more and more mature for TD-SCDMA. It will be a good time
for them to enter the TD-SCDMA market now.
Interviewer: Do you expect licensing in a bigger scale after
the network construction in 10 cities?
Wang Jing: Licensing in a certain scale is required. Many
technological details can only be fully verified in a large
and busy network. What is the biggest challenge for TD-SCDMA?
The testing TD-SCDMA network in construction is the only
and the first network. There is no former successful experience
at all. We have to establish a big enough network and let
it run. With enough traffic and users in there, we can have
full verifications on the functionality, stability and other
issues concerning mobile phone chips, etc. There have to
be a number of users, a great number of users in the network.
Interviewer: In this years CDMA device bid, the share for
different companies was not balanced. This triggered a lot
of controversy. And what is your opinion?
Wang Jing: I personally am not surprise. The shares of those
device companies are not equal, but this is not that astonishing.
Being the first bid, the share needn¡¯t be taken too seriously.
There will be more bids of TD-SCDMA. And TD companies all
have more opportunities in the future.
Interviewer: China Netcom is especially active in the network
construction of TD-SCDMA. There is also report that Netcom
will first allocate number. What is your opinion, which
operator do you expect would be the first?
Wang Jing: It hard for me to do such prediction. The Forum
didn¡¯t participate first-handedly in the testing of TD-SCDMA
in 10 cities. I think telecom administrations should have
the say.
Interviewer: As to the attitude to TD-SCDMA of major vendors,
can you please elaborate their involvement in the industrialization,
for example, Qualcomm and device vendors like Nortel?
Wang Jing: Qualcomm has always been active about and interested
in TD-SCDMA. Though it doesn¡¯t have technological products,
it is very interested in it. It is quite interesting that
Qualcomm is the most active participant vender in all events
of the Forum. They are really paying close attention. As
to other companies, because of the adjustment of product
strategy and attention, some don¡¯t have direct involvement
in the TD-SCDMA industry. However there attention and support
have always been the same. Telecom in the future would be
a more integrated concept, whoever in the telecom business
needs to pay attention to TD-SCDMA technology.
Interviewer: What about Nokia Siemens?
Wang Jing: Nokia Siemens has replaced the board membership
of Siemens and joined the Forum officially. The involvement
of Nokia Siemens in TD-SCDMA is beyond doubt. They have
two joint-ventures in the TD business. One of them is TD
Tech, which is formerly a joint-venture of Siemens and Huawei,
and is one of the top four system companies. The other is
Potevio Nokia, a joint-venture with Potevio, which has a
joint-ventured factory in Wuhan. I¡¯ve talked with Potevio
and Nokia Siemens about what is the objective of these two
joint-venture companies and how does Nokia arrange these
two joint-ventures in its TD blueprint. They are in the
assessment stage.
Interviewer: It has been announced that this joint-venture
will be set up. But in actual business, it seems Nokia Siemens
didn't join Potevio in this year's bid. Is it done solely
by Potevio?
Wang Jing: As far as we know, this year's production of
Potevio is made in the joint-venture of Potevio Nokia. They
are manufacturing.
Interviewer: Potevio Nokia has been established?
Wang Jing: Yes, established and registered, in Wuhan.
Interviewer: But it seems they don't have further involvement?
Wang Jing: That¡¯s because they are low-profile. You can
see our first interview in which I¡¯ve talked with Dr. Tao
Xiongqiang, you can have a better knowledge of Potevio,
especially about TD-SCDMA.
Interviewer: Let me announce to the audience that our series
interview held by Sina.com Tech and TD Forum will start
next week. The first interview is with Dr. Tao Xiongqiang,
senior Vice-President of Potevio. The second is with Mr.
Mingto Yu, Greater China Manager of MediaTek.
Wang Jing: Yes, the second interview is with Mr. Yu of MediaTek.
Interviewer: The condition of the TD-SCDMA market is almost
settled. Will the future positioning of TD Forum remain
the same? Because personally I think as the nearing of industrialization,
the TD-SCDMA Industry Alliance is also facing a switch of
objective. For TD-SCDMA Forum, will it remain the same positioning
as now?
Wang Jing: Beyond our routine work at TD-SCDMA Forum, such
as continuing contacting domestic and international companies
in the research and marketing of TD-SCDMA, we will also
move on to promote the internationalization of TD-SCDMA,
i.e. the communication and promotion among international
operators, vendors especially with international telecom
operators. For example, the cooperation with SK Telecom
in Korea, SK Telecom has an experiment on TD-SCDMA and we¡¯ve
planned a series of events with SK Telecom. We will try
to introduce the condition and achievements in the field
of TD-SCDMA to abroad, so we can lay a foundation to the
future internationalization of TD-SCDMA. We will also work
on the issue of its future development. We will organize
events like TD Future Evolvement, to provide a better knowledge
of the future evolvement of TD-SCDMA to the public, and
encourage enterprises to participate in the development
of TD.
Interviewer: Today we¡¯ve interviewed with Dr. Wang Jing
at Sina.com Tech. He has introduced the position of TD-SCDMA
Forum and the condition of major members of the TD-SCDMA
Forum. He has also discussed with us about the progress
of TD-SCDMA network construction. It was very informative
and interesting. Since we are running out of time, let¡¯s
invite Dr. Wang Jing conclude this interview with a few
words.
Wang Jing: Thank you for your attention and interest in
TD-SCDMA. TD-SCDMA is a pride of China, and don¡¯t forget
that it is an international standard as well. We are looking
forward to the success of TD-SCDMA in China, and also its
success in internationalization and in the future. Thank
you.
Interviewer: Thank you Dr. Wang Jing. And thank you
dear audience for your active participation. Thank you!
(The End)
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