China Mobile investing 58b yuan to maintain 3G edge

Chinese cell phone operator China Mobile said it plans to invest 58.8 billion yuan this year to expand its third-generation (3G) network across the country, hoping to preserve its dominating position in China's 3G arena.

The world's largest mobile phone carrier in terms of subscribers said during the weekend that it plans to build 60,000 new TD-SCDMA base stations in 2009.

That will boost the number of China Mobile's 3G network base stations to more than 80,000, covering 70 percent of the cities under provincial level across the country.