12:50 PM -- The Chinese news agency has said that China Mobile Ltd. (NYSE: CHL) will start trials of the home-grown TD-SCDMA (Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access) 3G standard in eight major cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, next week.

TD-SCDMA is just one of the wireless technologies set to be deployed as part of China's 3G rollout, with HSPA (high speed packet access) and CDMA evolution variants, such as EV-DO (data only), also due to be used alongside China's own 3G flavor. The domestic standard is strongly favored by the Chinese government, however. (See PicoChip Unveils Chinese Femtocell.)China has said that it will have 3G up and running in cities in time for the Olympics in August 2008.

— Dan Jones, Site Editor, Unstrung