Datang to re-enter mobile handset market

Datang Telecom Technology Co (600198.SH) said it will launch 15 mobile phone handsets on the domestic market, including two employing China’s homegrown TD-SCDMA 3G technology, China Business News reported. Datang previously launched handsets in 2003, but these were not successful and were subsequently removed from the market. Datang vice president Liu Xin said the company’s ownership of intellectual property for the TD-SCDMA standard gave it an advantage in the domestic market. Chairman and president Cao Bin predicted the handset business would make up 20% of the company’s total revenues. Datang posted a net loss of US$102.88 (RMB719 million) in 2006 but turned this into a net profit of US$4.52 million (RMB31.58 million) in 2007.