We've got to assume that it's a momentous occasion for a manufacturer any time they have an opportunity to break into the world's single largest phone market, so if they're prepping the bubbly out in Waterloo, we can't say we'd blame them. China Telecom -- one of China's three nationals -- reported this week that it has engaged RIM about the possibility of bringing BlackBerrys to its lineup No deal has been made just yet, but considering that China Unicom doesn't offer any of the devices and China Mobile's been soft on marketing it, Telecom could have an ace up its sleeve if it brings hot models to retail and pushes 'em hard. RIM's not talking so far, so there's no telling where the talks are -- or when the deal might be finalized.

Fresh in the wake of China's massive wireless restructuring, execs are already on the offensive with fightin' words that suggest true, standards-based 4G could be coming sooner rather than later. Though he says EV-DO Rev. A is still in the cards for the short term, China Telecom's CEO says that GSM and CDMA networks alike will all converge to LTE in the country, thus signalling the abandonment of the CDMA-favored UMB migration path by yet another of the world's wireless juggernauts. All told, it's looking promising that the overwhelming majority of the world's countries will be on the same cellular technology page within the next decade or so -- but who would've thought the creator of TD-SCDMA would commit to being one of the first to flip the switch?

[Via IntoMobile]

This just in: don't believe anything you hear regarding an official 3G rollout date in China. After quite a bit of rigmarole, the Chinese government has finally announced that it will issue a trio of 3G licenses. Notably, the announcement comes with a bit of baggage -- it's also calling for a merger between China Unicom and Netcom, two of its four biggest telecommunications providers. Furthermore, it stated that it would call on China Telecom, the nation's largest fixed-line carrier, to "purchase Unicom's CDMA network," all leading to a massive shuffle that should position three of the nation's telecom juggernauts to eventually offer high-speed wireless to a staggering 1.3 billion people. Unfortunately (though not unexpectedly), there's no time frame given for implementation, but some analysts are asserting that "a full launch of 3G services is [still] years away." Baby steps are better than no steps, we reckon.

[Thanks, James]