Airtime revenues for China Mobile, the world's largest phone company by market value, have fallen since the fourth quarter of last year as a result of the global financial crisis, Zhang Chunjiang, vice general manager, said on Monday in an interview at the annual session of the CPPCC.

With its airtime revenue being eroded, China Mobile will focus on its three-generation (3G) business this year, Zhang indicated.

"The company will invest 58.8 billion yuan (US$8.6 billion) on its third-generation mobile network this year," he said.

China Mobile has completed commercial trials of the TD-SCDMA networks it has built in ten cities including Beijing and Shanghai. By the end of this year, the network will cover about 300 cities, according to the vice general manager.

TD-SCDMA, a locally developed technology, is one of three standards accepted by China for 3G services, which allow faster downloads of music and video to mobile-phones. In May 2007, the government also approved two international standards, W-CDMA and CDMA2000.

Earlier this month, company Chairman Wang Jianzhou said the company would be prudent in seeking overseas acquisitions as many telecommunications companies have become financially vulnerable due to the deepening crisis.

(China.org.cn March 9, 2009)