"China's  State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) has begun buying  CMMB  equipment  on  a large scale, and the 35 cities will first be   equipped  with  ground  coverage  network  using  the  U-band wavelength," an Innofidei official, who wished to remain anonymous, told Interfax.

During the  early  stage  of mobile TV development, CMMB ground coverage networks  using  the  U-band  wavelength  will be adequate for providing mobile TV  services,  the  official said. In the later stage, there will also be satellite coverage.

SARFT previously  planned  to  build  the  CMMB  network  in  37 cities.

"However,  the network construction project will be delayed in Lhasa and Guiyang  due  to the relatively small market potential in those cities," the official said.

SARFT has already started construction on CMMB networks in eight cities, with deployment of CMMB-based transmission stations beginning in October in the six  Olympic  cities  of  Beijing,  Qingdao,  Shenyang, Shanghai, Qinhuangdao and Tianjin, as well Shenzhen and Guangzhou.

Development  in  Beijing  has  progressed  to  the  point where the city currently   has   a  complete  CMMB  trial  network  with  three  signal transmission points, the official said.

Jiang Wenbo, the president of the Academy of Broadcasting Planning under SARFT, said  during  a conference in Shenzhen yesterday that SARFT plans to launch  a  CMMB-STAR  satellite  in  June  2008 to build up satellite transmission  coverage.  The  ground  coverage  that  is currently being implemented  will be merged with satellite coverage in the first half of 2008, Innofidei said in an announcement.

CMMB was  developed  by  SARFT's Academy of Broadcasting Science and has won strong  support  from  the central government. China has independent intellectual property rights to the homegrown technology.

The CMMB   system   employs   both  satellite  transmission  and  ground transponders.  The  latter  will  be deployed in urban areas and tunnels where satellite signals are weak.

CMMB includes     transmission   technology,   video,   audio,   channel transmission  and  protocol  components.  STiMi  (Satellite  Terrestrial Interactive  Multiservice  Infrastructure),  a  transmission  technology developed  by  the Academy of Broadcasting Science, is the key component in China's CMMB system.