China approves 19 firms for CDMA handset production

BEIJING, Aug 30 (Reuters) - China has approved 19 firms to produce handsets using CDMA technology, a cellular standard slated to make its debut in China by the year-end, the official Xinhua news agency said on Thursday.

The powerful State Development Planning Commission has approved 19 Chinese firms to produce phones using Qualcomm Inc's CDMA standard, Xinhua said.

China's second largest mobile carrier, China Unicom Group, has said it plans to begin operation on its network using the CDMA standard by November, although some equipment vendors building the network said it may be ready sooner.

CDMA technology is a rival to the more popular GSM (global system for mobile communication) standard used in earlier-built cellular networks in China.

China surpassed the United States in July to become the world's biggest cellular phone market with 120.6 million subscribers.

The companies approved included Motorola China Ltd, Motorola Inc's China unit, and 18 other domestic firms as follows:

 1. Ningbo Bird 
 2. China Kejian Co 
 3. Zhongxing Telecom 
 4. Beijing Posts & Telecommunications Equipment Factory
 5. TCL Group
 6. Qingdao Haier Group
 7. Eastern Communications 
 8. Shenzhen Konka Group
 9. Guangzhou Southern High-Tech
 10. Zhongdian Telecommunications Technology
 11. Datang Telecom 
 12. China Zhenhua Science & Technology 
 13. Shandong Langchao Group
 14. Qingdao Haixin Group
 15. Dalian Daxian Group
 16. Nanjing Postel Telecommunications Co 
 17. Nanjing Putian
 18. Xiamen Huaqiao Electronics