Beijing Xinwei Telecom Technology Inc, the core developer of China's home-grown TD-SCDMA 3G standard, will hold its long-awaited initial public offering (IPO) in Shenzhen by the end of March, a source close to the situation said.

 

"Xinwei Telecom is expected to hold its share offering on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange by the end of March," said Xiong Yuzhu, vice-president of WI Harper Group, a venture-capital firm that invested in Xinwei in 1997.

 

Xinwei Telecom, founded in 1995, is a joint venture between Datang Group and US-based Cwill. The company has sole intellectual property rights for the synchronous code division multiple access (SCDMA) standard for wireless access service, the core technology behind China's TD-SCDMA 3G standard.

 

"We will have a domestic IPO instead of an overseas share offer," said Li Fang, an official from the company's marketing department, declining to reveal further details.

 

Xinwei Telecom is now the main equipment provider for SCDMA products. The SCDMA technology was selected by China's Ministry of Information Industry as the preferred solution to provide telephone services to rural villages.

 

The SCDMA technology has been deployed by two major carriers, China Telecom and China Netcom, in 25 provinces and autonomous regions in China, the company said. Mongolia and Sri Lanka have also adopted the SCDMA technology to establish a commercial network.

 

The Beijing-based company has reportedly been seeking an overseas listing to finance its expansion since 2004. The company achieved five-fold growth in sales revenue during 2004 and 2006, according to its website. Moreover, it had 1 billion yuan in sales and 200 million yuan in profit in 2005, according to an earlier report by the 21st Century Business Herald.

 

Meanwhile, the company has developed a new generation wireless broadband access standard McWiLL, which is competing with Intel's WiMax to become China's national standard.

 

"The IPO may allow Xinwei Telecom to promote its McWiLL," said Guo Fei, an analyst with Analysys International, a Beijing-based telecom consultancy.

 

The Chinese government has been testing different systems for the potential successor to WiFi, which allows wireless access to the Internet. WiMax, promoted by Intel, is facing competition from McWiLL in China since the nation voiced its intention to cultivate home-grown standards.

 

It was previously reported that China Netcom, a major fixed-line operator, had adopted the McWiLL standard for the 2008 Olympic Games. Moreover, China Mobile began a McWiLL network in Chongqing Municipality for commercial trial use, while China Netcom did the same in Guangdong Province.

 

(China Daily January 18, 2007)