A senior representative of China's telecoms industry has criticized the government's introduction and licensing of 3G mobile phone services as slow, opaque and ineffective, the media reported on Friday.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Shi Jixing, vice-chairman of the China Mobile Communications Association, said officials had failed to set a unified policy on 3G technology TD-SCDMA standards while routinely interfering in operators' strategic choices. China is missing an opportunity for 3G networks, said Shi, who is also a member of China's National People's Congress in session over the week.

Policy was deadlocked between the Ministry of Information Industry, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the State Council's 'Informatization' Office. 'There are unclear responsibilities and low efficiency,' he was quoted as saying. 'This means the excellent strategic opportunity presented by 3G is not being grasped in time,' he added.

Chinese regulators have refused to discuss how, or when, they may issue 3G licenses. The disturbing indecisions affect billions of dollars in telecoms infrastructure spending and the fortunes of the country's big four operators (which are China Mobile and China Unicom for mobile services, China Telecom and China Netcom for fixed line services). The four carriers plan to invest over 25 billion yuan ($3.2 billion) -- the giant China Mobile 15 billion yuan -- into the 3G network construction, equipment and testing this year.

China Mobile, which commands the biggest user base (numbering 306.1 million at the end of January 2007), will lead another round of tests of the 3G network based on the homegrown TD-SCDMA technology starting this month, and the tests will last one year. During this trial period, the Chinese government will not consider any issue of 3G licenses.

The Ministry of Information Industry,  China's telecoms regulator, has repeatedly said that 3G will be ready when Beijing hosts the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. The current two biggest 3G bottlenecks are the patent settlement and technical testing, according to industry officials.