-December 5, 2006, Sina

On December 5, Sina (www.sina.com.cn) and the Ministry of Information Industry co-held a “Top Talk” with the top level leaders at the Information Industry Hall at the ITU Telecom World 2006, in which about 100 presidents and CEOs discussed critical topics in the global telecom industry.
The live Top Talk interview with TD Tech CEO Mr. Klaus Maler is recorded below:

Host (H): Hello, everyone. Today is the second day of ITU Telecom World, and Sina has invited an important guest here to join us. Please welcome TD Tech CEO Mr. Klaus Maler.

Klaus Maler (M): Thank you very much for giving me this honor to meet with you again. We met about a year and a half ago.

H: TD Tech is in fact a TD-SCDMA company that’s received a great attention and we’re glad to have this opportunity to interview with you again.

M: Thank you.

H: Mr. Klaus Maler, the ITU Telecom World is the biggest of its kind in China and even Asia this year. What is TD Tech exhibiting at the expo.

M: TD Tech is exhibiting all its systems and equipment that have been used in large-scale network testing and experiments, including base stations and base station controllers which are connected to the core network in Beijing. You can see a real and vivid presentation in this exhibition.
In this exhibition, we’ll use handset terminals to realize roaming between GSM and TD-SCDMA networks, and you can see with your own eyes how to handoff and roam between different networks with handset terminals.
Another important presentation is our HSDPA function. We can televise live TV programs of CCTV5 on the spot through HSDPA.
The third one is critical to our operators. We present our IMS system, through which operators can expand their business, including network games, teleconferences and other functions.
What I mentioned just now are products in technical aspect, and another important product we are presenting is the Tplan, a tried-and-true tool for network optimization and planning. It’s two years since we started development and it’s of substantial significance to future commercial use. As a very good tool, it can help explore the city where a network is to be constructed and will be crucial to network optimization.

H: As one of the four major companies in TD-SCDMA, what’s the current focus of TD-SCDMA on R&D.

M: As we all know, TD Tech is development based on its two parent companies - Huawei and Siemens. Since 2004, the two parent companies have transferred all their TD-SCDMA technologies to TD Tech.
We have established a mature R&D process, which makes us highly efficient in product R&D and enables us to rapidly launch needed products to the market according to our plan. This is a demonstration that we have applied new LCL2 products in large-scale network testing within a short period. It also proves that we have a very good process and we can produce what we need in a very short period.

H: What advantages do you think TD Tech has in TD-SCDMA systems and equipment in terms of technology or the marketplace.

M: Thus far, TD Tech has been devoted to TD-SCDMA R&D for eight or nine years. Compared with our competitors, that’s an advantage for us because it makes our products steady in performance and reliable in quality.
Another advantage of TD Tech is that our products are trustworthy and can meet customers’ various needs.
Another advantage lies in our service. We can have the equipment the market needs in place on short notice and make delivery on the spot as required. We also offer efficient installation and testing too.
For TD Tech, customers are always in the uppermost position, while our technology comes in second because it always serves to meet our customers’ needs.

H: The TD-SCDMA testing is coming to the end. How is TD Tech’s performance in the testing so far

M: TD Tech is more than satisfied with its work during the testing. As you all know, the large-scale network testing is co-held by the Ministry of Information Industry and operators. I won’t compare the testing results of different companies here, but I can tell you one thing for sure. That is, we are more than satisfied with what TD Tech has achieved during the testing. It is better than our highest expectations.

H: Many people agree that TD Tech excels at technology. Though there is disagreement as to whether it’s first or second, it’s definitely among the top two.

M: Thank you.

H: Now TD-SCDMA has come to the stage of issuing numbers to friendly users. Could you brief us on where TD Tech is engaged in network construction

M: In the stage of issuing numbers to friendly users, TD Tech has constructed base stations in Beijing, Xiamen and Baoding. More than 100 base stations took part in the testing of this number-issuing stage, satisfying the needs of over a thousand users.

H: Several days ago I saw a piece of news released by TD Tech that you had launched the 2G NodeB610 of TD-SCDMA. Could you tell us the difference and advantage of 2G over 1G

M: The base station we are using now in the large-scale network testing is named LCR2.1. It has a HSDPA function and is smaller than 1G in terms of weight and appearance, which is favorable for future large-scale commercial use.
It means that operators won’t need new software for HSDPA when they use our base station products. Meanwhile, they can use a small-sized base station, which is good for the future deployment of base stations.

H: TD Tech also put forward a TD-SCDMA network planning tool recently called TPlan. Why did you launch TPlan? Is it a kind of TD-SCDMA system equipment.

M: In fact, TPlan is a tool for network planning and optimization. In regards to network deployment, the challenges we face include how many base stations should we construct in a city, what capacity a base station should have, and how many mobile users there are in that city. All needs to be carefully considered. TPlan is a tool for network planning to integrate those factors. It is not only crucial to system suppliers like us, but also vital to operators because they can use TPlan to plan their entire network, which is also of great importance to operators’ clients. Therefore TPlan is in fact an optimal tool to help operators plan their network.
For instance, if ITU is held in Beijing next year, our operators will commence network planning and optimization according to actual conditions, and TPlan’s ability in network planning and optimization will be embodied on some functions of our base stations and products. Designed for future large-scale commercial use, this tool can plan the comprehensive functional targets of the entire system to maximize the performance of all functions, so as to support large-scale commercial use.

H: At present, China has high expectations for TD-SCDMA, so TD Tech will have a heavy load to shoulder. We hope TD Tech will continue to excel in the future.

M: Thank you.

H: The interview is coming to an end due to the time limit. As our special guest here, you have talked thoroughly about the developments of TD Tech as well as TD-SCDMA.

M: Thank you very much for giving me this opportunity to share with you some of our ideas about TD-SCDMA and our research results.

H: Thank Mr. Klaus Maler again and also thank our net friends for your active participation. That’s all for our interview today. Bye.