China approved long-awaited licenses last week for 3G, the next generation of mobile networks, whetting investors’ appetites with the promise of major new orders for equipment makers and revenue for network operators.

The new licenses will see China Mobile, the country’s dominant player, forced to build and operate a 3G network based on a home-grown experimental technology called TD-SCDMA.

To read this Reuters report in full, see iht.com/articles/2009/01/05/business/col06.php.