A trial network for China's home-grown technology for third generation mobile communication (3G) is to be established in the Republic of Korea (ROK).

Sources with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said Wednesday that China and the ROK had signed a memorandum of understanding to promote cooperation on the technology.

That is China's first international cooperation on the system. China's ZTE announced the establishment of a trial network of the TD-SCDMA technology last November.

TD-SCDMA was mainly developed by Datang Mobile and is the country's first significant mobile communication technology.

It is undergoing final trials before commercial use in China and the first 3G licenses are expected to be issued late this year for TD-SCDMA.

The program between China and the ROK would be implemented by SKT of the ROK and Chinese enterprises, the official source said.

The two sides would jointly develop 3G services based on TD-SCDMA and set up a research center in China.

Experts from China and the ROK would look for operation applications of TD-SCDMA and promote it on the international market, said the source.

Post-3G and 4G technologies are also key issues in the agreement.

TD-SCDMA is one of the three international 3G standards with Europe's WCDMA and CDMA2000 from the United States.

The Chinese government is strongly backing its TD-SCDMA technology, which is expected to enjoy good prospects in the world's largest telecommunications market with over 431 million mobile users.

Foreign telecoms companies have closely monitored the progress of TD-SCDMA and began to invest in the technology as it matured.

(Xinhua News Agency August 31, 2006)