China United Telecom Launches New Wireless Data Services

 

BEIJING -(Dow Jones)- China United Telecommunications Corp., the smaller of China's two mobile operators, over the weekend launched a marketing blitz for several new mobile data services it hopes will attract high-end users

The services are all based on CDMA 1x technology, a recently completed upgrade of China United's CDMA network that allows for much faster data transfer speeds. They will also require a mobile phone that is compatible with CDMA 1x.

All the services will be marketed under the brand "Liantong Wuxian" or "Unicom Unlimited," which the company unveiled at a Friday evening launch ceremony that featured thumping techno music, lasers and fireworks - not to mention interludes of tap dancing and ballet.

China United's new offerings will have to compete with an existing high-speed data service from its larger rival, China Mobile Communications Corp., that uses a similar but incompatible technology known as GPRS.

Like China Mobile's GPRS already does, China United's CDMA 1x will allow mobile phone users to send each other digital images and music. But rather than use the multimedia message service, or MMS, system China Mobile is already promoting, China United is basing its on a standard e-mail system.

That means CDMA 1x users will be able to send, for example, a picture taken by a phone's built-in camera not only to other CDMA 1x users, but also to any e- mail address. Subscribers can also use their phones to check their own e-mail.

That service has been dubbed "Cai e", a name that combines the Chinese character "cai", or "color", with the English letter "e" apparently standing for e-mail. China Mobile calls its MMS service "cai xin," or "color message," in Chinese.

Other offerings include software - such as games - that can be downloaded onto a mobile phone, and a service that lets personal computer users use the CDMA 1x network to access the Internet wirelessly - at speeds much higher than normal dial-up Internet access.

China United is also promising future services that will be based on global positioning system, or GPS. It showed promotional materials for services that would let mobile phone users can view their current location on a map, and receive recommendations for nearby restaurants or bars.

China United Telecommunications is the parent of Hong Kong and New York-listed China Unicom Ltd. , which is leasing CDMA operations in some provinces from the parent company.