The government in January chose TD-SCDMA as one of its standards. The other two technologies China is considering are wideband code-division multiple access, or WCDMA, and CDMA2000, developed by Qualcomm Inc., the world's second-biggest maker of wireless-phone chips.

"Based on industry standards, to build a nationwide network, it would take investment of between 80 billion yuan (US$10 billion) and 100 billion yuan over three years,'' Zuo said.

The company has enough resources to build and operate a 3G network and doesn't plan to bring in more investors, he said.

China Netcom expects to get regulators' approval by the end of the year to allow Telefonica SA, Spain's largest phone operator, to double its stake in the company to 9.9 percent by acquiring stock from minority shareholders.

China Netcom said first-half profit fell 1.7 percent after competition from cell-phone companies such as China Mobile increased. Net income declined to 5.8 billion yuan (US$728 million) from a restated 5.9 billion yuan a year earlier, and sales rose 2.2 percent to 41.9 million yuan.

The company was expected to post a profit of 5.55 billion yuan, based on the median estimate of six analysts in a Bloomberg survey. The 2005 figures were adjusted to include the results of four networks acquired from the parent company in October.

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