Qualcomm has signed a memorandum of understanding to offer an operating system-like platform for its CDMA (code division multiple access) mobile-phone network upgrades in China, enabling users to download games and read e-mail.
However, industry analysts say China's CDMA network is failing public expectations for basic service. They point to a shortage of phones and numbers. Some of China Unicom's nearly one million CDMA subscribers also complain of poor reception.
Qualcomm president Paul Jacobs said yesterday his California-based company had agreed with China Unicom to use an application development platform - like an operating system for phones - called Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless (Brew).
Qualcomm first deployed Brew in South Korea through mobile-phone and wireless services provider KTFreetel.
Mr Jacobs and other Qualcomm officials were in Beijing attending the First All China Qualcomm Brew Developers' Conference to explain the technology to about 200 industry professionals. Brew would use a new upgrade called CDMA-1X, with 1X meaning bandwidth wide enough to let phone users read or send e-mail, locate themselves on a map and download games such as Space Invaders.
Charges for these over-the-air transactions had not been set for China, but Mr Jacobs said download airtime would cost about the same as voice calls of a similar duration.