Nokia Launches Its First Phone for China Mobile's 3G Network

Nokia announced its first smartphone for China Mobile's 3G network on Tuesday.

The Nokia 6788 runs the Symbian operating system and has a 2.8-inch display, a 5-megapixel camera with a dual-LED flash, and support for A-GPS (Assisted GPS).

Content can be stored in the phone's 4GB memory or on a microSD card up to 8GB in capacity. The phone also supports instant messaging and e-mail, according to a spec sheet from Nokia.

Nokia expects to begin selling the 6788 at the end of December, but has not announced a price.

China Mobile's 3G network uses TD-SCDMA (Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access), a radio technology developed in China. Nokia said it plans to introduce more TD-SCDMA phones in the near future.

At the end of September China Mobile had about 508 million [m] mobile subscribers, making it the world's largest operator. Around 1.6 million [m] of those subscribers use the company's 3G service, according to its Web site.

China Mobile hopes support from Nokia will help boost the development of TD-SCDMA in China, it said in a statement.