China Mobile, which has more than 500 million subscribers, had started a highly anticipated request for proposals in the third round of bidding for its third-generation mobile network based on a homegrown standard known as TD-SCDMA, said Johan Wibergh, senior vice-president and head of networks.
"For China Mobile and 3G we have around 5-10 percent, and it will surprise me if we have significantly more" in the new round of contracts, he said on Monday at the Reuters Technology Summit in Shanghai. "Of course we aim to have more but that's what we have today."
China's three main telecoms operators spent about $21 billion last year building 3G mobile networks, following the much-delayed awarding of licenses.
China's dominant carrier China Mobile, which had to build its 3G network from scratch, was the largest of the spenders, awarding the bulk of its two rounds of TD-SCDMA contracts last year to local players Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corp.
In March, Ericsson said it had secured $1.8 billion in deals with Chinese operators, including a $1 billion deal with China Mobile.
