Datang Mobile and SK China announced yesterday that they have set up a joint service TD-SCDMA development center. The centre is located within the Datang Mobile compound in Beijing and has been set up to assist the further development of TD-SCDMA.

The two companies will collaborate together in relation to the service platform, terminal platform and network operation. They will also assist each other in the development, verification and testing of the application TD-SCDMA within China. Insiders have stated that there will be an increase in the amount of testing for the recently launched TD-SCDMA. Until recently the analysis of the basic services such as phone calls, text messaging and Internet access has been completed, the assessment of the more complex services such as 3G mainstream functions and visual phones are expected to begin next month.

The foundation of the development center is part of a cooperation agreement the two parties reached last year. According to a memorandum of understanding signed by the parties they are to mutually establish this center in order to help develop the 3G services.

In addition to the development centre SK intends to set up a TD-SCDMA research and development department in South Korea. Datang Mobile, ZTE Corporation and other several Chinese manufacturers will collaborate together in order to facilitate with the network building, planning and optimization of the centre. This is the first time the Chinese version of 3G has begun to rival its overseas competitors.