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Mar. 30, 2008

Late Friday, China Mobile said it will begin testing the country’s homegrown 3-G standard beginning April 1st.

China Mobile announced the news as part of the service test that it will also issue 20,000 TD-SCDMA-enabled handsets and about 5,000 new data cards to some select customers.

The mobile phone carrier also said that trial devices will also include free airtime.

Additionally, the company will offer an additional 40,000 handsets in stores for $7.13 a month, with outgoing calls costing six cents a minute.

Overall, China began developing its own 3-G standard seven years ago, in an attempt to compete with other 3G standards including WCDMA.

The Chinese government has said it hopes 3G services will roll out before the summer Olympics begin this August in Beijing.

China Mobile said its 3G technology testing program will begin April 1 and run through July in eight cities, including Beijing.

China Mobile is the world's largest mobile carrier by subscribers.

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Source: Samsung.