Ericsson, the world's largest telecom equipment manufacturer, is in talks to participate in a new round of testing for China's home-grown 3G (third generation) standard, an industry source said.

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That could boost the Chinese standard, TD-SCDMA, which has been trying to catch up with rival foreign standards WCDMA and CDMA 2000.

Ericsson is now talking with China Mobile to provide equipment to the TD-SCDMA trial networks in five cities including Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Tianjin, Qinghuangdao and Shenyang, the source said.

Since March 2006, China Mobile, as well as fixed-line telephone operators China Telecom and China Netcom, has been testing TD-SCDMA in Xiamen, Baoding, Qingdao, Beijing and Shanghai.

Ericsson "is apparently seeking to play a role" in the next round of tests, the source said.

Unlike WCDMA and CDMA 2000, TD-SCDMA has yet to be put into commercial deployment and has lacked industry-wide support, especially from Western manufacturers.

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