China is planning to offer a key trade concession to Washington by opening its domestic market to the US mobile phone standard, CDMA, raising the prospect of billions of dollars in exports for US companies.
An announcement of Beijing's plans to allow the nationwide provision of CDMA (code division multiple access) systems is expected around the time that Mr Zhu Rongji, the Chinese premier, visits the US in April.
A Chinese telecoms official cautioned, however, that the announcement could be withheld if Mr Zhu encountered hostility in the US.
European mobile equipment manufacturers, such as Ericsson, Nokia, and Siemens, which produce the GSM standard that currently dominates China's mobile market, stand to lose if permission for CDMA is granted.
But US equipment suppliers such as Motorola, Lucent Technologies and Nortel, as well as Samsung, the Korean manufacturer, would see their sales soar in the world's fastest-growing mobile telephone market. China's mobile subscriber base, currently at about 25 million, is growing at a rate of one million a month.
