China MII accepts CDMA 450

China’s Ministry of Information Industry has accepted CDMA technology at the 450 MHz as an official mobile standard, industry sources said today.

The acceptance now paves the way for new contracts this year, the sources said. China’s fixed-line operators are interested in entering the mobile wireless market via CDMA 450, which is beginning to gain momentum in China primarily because it is relatively inexpensive to deploy. The lower frequency translates into less towers and base stations, compared with a traditional 900 MHz system, to cover vast regions such as China.

Earlier this year, the Russian ministry approached China about deploying CDMA 450 so that Russia’s operators, which are planning a nationwide rollout of the technology at the 450 MHz band, could obtain cheaper equipment and use China’s market influence to give legitimacy to the 450 MHz band’s support of next-generation mobile technology.

Lucent Technologies, which has spearheaded CDMA 450 deployment in Eastern Europe and Russia, plans to lobby regulators around the world to open up the spectrum band for CDMA. China’s adoption of CDMA 450 will help spur the move, said Joseph Nordgaard, founder of consultancy firm Spectral Advantage.

“More regulators around the world will look at this far more seriously now, and hopefully understand the economic advantages that the 450 band provides,” said Nordgaard.