Asustek, China Mobile Cooperate on TD-SCDMA Service

Taipei, March 1, 2011 (CENS)--Asustek Computer Inc. and China Mobile Ltd. recently announced their strategic cooperation on promoting TD-SCDMA service, with Asustek pledging to provide China Mobile with tailor-made mobile handsets and tablet PCs that support the third-generation cellular format.

China Mobile Chairman Wang Jianzhou, accompanied by the company's top brass, recently showed up at a high-profile Asustek presentation of TD-SCDMA phones and tablet PCs, a move deemed linked with the two companies’ alliance.

China Mobile, currently mainland China's No.1 cellular-service provider, has begun inviting bids from handset makers for 11.2 million TD-SCDMA smartphones. Wang pointed out that the company needs to supply subscribers more high-performance smartphones this year to meet the exploding growth of their data-based Internet access. China Mobile will announce the list of winning bidders sometime in April.

Jonney Shih, Asustek's chairman, said the recent product presentation is the implementation of his company's pledge made in 2009 to develop the handsets that support China Mobile's TD-SCDMA specification. He added that the company will introduce mobile phones embedded with the China-spearheaded TD-LTE cellular format next year.

Asustek executives pointed out that Asustek is the world's first handset maker to build Marvell single-chip solution into its TD-SCDMA smartphones, making the phones slimmer, less expensive and efficient. They noted that around 38-40% of the mainland's 3G subscribers are now on the TD-SCDMA network.