"Telecom universal service", "IPTV", "converged network", "telecom expense", "TD-SCDMA test" are among the ten key words for the China's communications industry.

The key words were announced yesterday by the Telecommunication Technology Information Research Institute of China's Ministry of Information Industry.

The year of 2005 is key to China's telecommunication industry, and telecommunication universal service has always been a priority and an important mission for the government, said Lei Zhenzhou, official with the institute at a conference on the industry in 2006.

According to Lei, in the first 10 months this year, telephone had been installed in 96.5 percent of all China's administrative villages, which makes China realize its preset goal ahead of schedule.

IPTV has become a focus in the industry in 2005.

Lei said since IPTV links TV set with the Internet, it to some extent helps the Triple Play, i.e. IP, broadband and digital TV. Three hundred million Chinese TV audiences will likely join the broadband camp. The year of 2005 is an experimental period for IPTV.

The term "converged network" came into being in the 1990s.

Lei said in the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010), the Chinese government for the first time mentions the "Triple Play", vowing to strengthen the construction of the information infrastructure for Next-Generation Internet, such as digital broadband and digital TV network, and promote the Triple Play.

Over the past couple of years, the third-generation mobile communication has always remained a limelight.

China owns the world's largest potential 3G market and the granting of 3G licenses has been the biggest question mark in its telecom industry this year.

In the meantime, the test for TD-SCDMA, Chinese 3G standard, has also drawn much attention. Since the last year, departments concerned in Beijing and Shanghai conducted research on TD-SCDMA networks and terminals and test on chips. The test, which lasted over half a year, has been finished as planned.

China made aggressive efforts in the reform of telecom expense this year, replacing pricing by the government with upper limit control.

Lei said such a move is another large-scale action of relaxing the market after IP phone to build a more market-oriented playfield.

The other four key words are "WiMAX", "telecom transformation", "Internet governance" and "IPV6".

By People's Daily Online