China Mobile Telecommunications（Group） Co, the parent company of China Mobile （Hong Kong） Ltd, is planning to roll out its 3G （third-generation mobile ） service  by the end of 2003 or early 2004, the Hong Kong Economic  Times reported.

    The paper quoted Li Yue, vice president of the  company, as saying the company is likely to become  one of China's first 3G service providers when the  Ministry of Information Industry（MII ） gives out  3G licenses, according to today's China Daily.

    MII has not yet decided which 3G standard to adopt  in China.

    Chinese mobile companies recently dreamed up TD-SCDMA,  a 3G standard which parallels the WCDMA standard favored  by European and Japanese companies and the CDMA 2000  standard developed by US-based Qualcom. Although the  Chinese Government favors the home-made standard,  Li said China Mobile planned to adopt the WCDMA standard  because it represents the global mainstream.

    China Mobile has conducted tests of its future  WCDMA service in Shenzhen and Beijing, according to  the newspaper.

    At present, however, the company is concentrating  on implementing GPRS, a technology also known as 2.5G  which serves as a stepping stone between second and  third generation mobile communications.

    China Mobile's 2.5G trial service started in August,  and the company expects to start offering commercial  service at the beginning of next year.

    China Mobile's sole rival, China Unicom, said  it plans to launch its 2.5G CDMA service at the end  of this year or early next year.