After years of waiting, Chinese consumers have finally got access to the third-generation, or 3G mobile services. The country's No 1 mobile operator, China Mobile, has launched trial services of the indigenous 3G mobile phones. Data transfer rates of the new network triple those of the 2G phones. Our reporter Michael Lee has the details.

Reporter:

At one of China Mobile's operating halls in downtown Beijing, a staff member is busy answering customers' telephone enquiries about 3G services.

The launching of China's 3G mobile phone service has had years of waiting.

"Video phone and high speed wireless connection are what I want the most. I may need it to transmit word and excel files. I know it's in trial operation, there may be some problems. But it's a new thing. It's worth trying."

"I am doing indoor decoration. Sometimes, we need to search on the internet about the design and material information when negotiating with customers. Carrying a laptop is too troublesome. 3G is small and convenient."

According to a staff member at the operating hall, thirty 3G accounts allocated to them were already sold out in the first day that the service went on the market. Altogether, there are 20 thousand 3G accounts on sale nationwide at this time.

This high-speed wireless connection service is based on China's home-made standard, also known as TD-SCDMA.

Currently the trial operation is being carried out in eight major cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

A China Mobile staff member introduces that there is a big difference between 3G and 2G.

"The speed of 2G is about 100 KB, or dozens of KB. The flow of 3G network can reach 300 KB per second."

3G mobile phone services will be also available during the Beijing Olympic Games in August.

Michael Lee, CRI News.