telecom - Strong speculations on delay 3G-licenses

Seeking Alpha summerizes the latest rumors the 3G-licenses might only be issued at the beginning of 2008, not 2007, and its possible fallout for the parties involved. In the most likely scenario China Mobile will get the opportunity to rollout the domestic TD-SCDMA as a "trial" in the five Olympic cities, while the other operators will have to wait till next year. Licensing will be a formality for the Chinese standard in 2008, while other systems will have to wait even longer.
That would mean a huge political victory for China Mobile, who will remain the largest player in wireless communication in a quasi-monopoly. One of the speculations has been that more competition would easy the grip China Mobile has on the service and content providers in this field.
For the fixed-lines providers China Telecom and China Netcom, the situation will be even more painful, as they are limited to what is perceived as an industry in decline, with no way to move into wireless communication.