Beijing Olympics gets a 3G touch

NEW DELHI, INDIA: All eyes are set on the 'Bird’s Nest' in Beijing, the main venue of the 29th Summer Olympic Games, being celebrated from August 8 to 24. It is going to be a historic event in many respects and, probably, the most hi-tech one till date.

According to a media report, China will have third-generation (3G) mobile services in operation at the Beijing Olympics based on its own home-grown standard, known as TD-SCDMA (Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access).

Foreign visitors to Olympic games won’t be able to use their 3G mobile phones, whose technology is incompatible with China’s network.

"If foreigners would like to enjoy these services, they will have to rent 3G handsets from China Mobile, China’s top wireless operator," said Xi Guohua, the vice-minister of Industry and Information Technology, at a press conference held in Beijing.

Clearly, there will be no international roaming service available for foreign travellers using WCDMA and CDMA 2000-based phones, but they can hire a TD handset from China Mobile and enjoy the 3G services during the games.

However, once you are outside the Olympic venue, 3G services will not function, and your TD phone will become a regular cell phone using GSM or GPRS-based networks depending on a user’s service request.

China Mobile and South Korean cell phone producer Samsung presented 15,000 3G handsets, plus data cards and nearly 3 million Yuan of calling fees, to the Beijing Organising Committee for the Beijing games.

The radio department has received about 8,140 applications for using radio frequency from media, security departments, sport event control and command centres.

"We can promise all radio devices will work well and safely during the Games," assured Zhang Shengli, director of the radio department under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, at the same conference.