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TD-SCDMA is yet to sell a single minute of airtime, but the Chinese industry is already eyeing offshore opportunities.

ZTE, the biggest TD-SCDMA vendor to date, is targeting emerging markets worldwide, in particular countries with large populations like India, Pakistan and Brazil.

Isaac Liang, international market director TD-SCDMA for vendor ZTE, admits the market is competitive, but believes the latecomer to the 3G party "has a chance".

"It's the most spectrum-efficient technology and it has a high throughput of data - 1.3 times that of W-CDMA," he told telecomasia.net. "There's not enough W-CDMA spectrum for all, so it's a good opportunity for fixed line operators and other newcomers."

"There are many vendors in China who can offer the equipment, from the systems to the terminals. There are more than 100 terminals. When China Mobile launches service, the terminal prices will be very low."

The patent license fees would also be much lower than CDMA or W-CDMA, he promised, while regional operators - especially in Hong Kong, Macau or Taiwan - could see significant business from sharing roaming with China Mobile.

Liang said ZTE was not trying to sell TD-SCDMA networks to North America or western Europe. "It's for middle-income countries."

The first trial outside China was in Romania last year, and the second a test network built by SKT in Korea in April.  No trials have yet taken place, says Liang, but discussions are underway with "several countries".