The Mobile Multimedia Technology Alliance (MMTA), composed of four telecom operators China Unicom, China Telecom, China Mobile, China Netcom equipment providers China Putian, Huawei, ZTE and Vimicro and the China Academy of Telecommunication Research, was founded last October to vitalize independent IPR in the sector.
Its purpose is to integrate the forces of various players in the value chain of the mobile multimedia industry to promote innovation and standardization of networks terminals and applications.
MMTA Vice-President Zhang Hui, also vice-commander-in-chief of the "Starlight China Chip Project", is excited to see a new technical standard - Versatile Media of Digital Format-midi (VMD-midi), an achievement of the project proposed by the alliance - has recently been listed as a new technical standard in video and audio processing of multimedia entertainment by the two top domestic telecommunications operators, China Unicom and China Mobile.
Other standards currently widely adopted in this area such as the SP-midi, SMF and CMX-midi, are all proposed by foreign counterparts.
"It has broken a foreign monopoly, and we believe it will be promoted to more domestic and foreign operators," says Zhang.
Echoing Zhang's remarks, Ding Wenwu, director of the Products Management Bureau of the Ministry of Information Industry, says that the adoption of the VMD is set to raise the nation's profile in the fierce battlefield of global telecoms.
In the 3G (third-generation) era, multi-media entertainment has become a driving force and money spinner. Competition among operators and researchers in this area hinge on IPRs, observers say.
Besides, China ranks top in the world in terms of telecom consumers and the overall scale of the Internet, so independent IPRs are crucial for the nation to survive the cut-throat competition and snatch more market share.
"Since the founding of the MMTA, government departments have given us strong support ranging from funds, and equipment to human resources. The project was listed as one of the key funding research and development progammes in the integrated-circuits sector by the National Development and Reform Commission," says Zhang.
Research on ViMD was also strongly backed by the Ministry of Information Industry, the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Beijing Municipal Government.
Si Wenku, director of the Science and Technology Bureau of the Ministry of Information Industry, says that in the telecom sector, foreign operators and developers have taken the lead in research and development and possess many core IPRs on products, technology and even operational model.
This leads to unfair and stiff competition for domestic firms, so the ministry encourages the joining-hands campaign among domestic firms such as the founding of alliances of MMTA and the TD-SCDMA Industry Alliance, says the official.
MMTA has also launched another campaign - the second series of the "Startlight China Chip" developed by its member Vimicro was unveiled together with ViMD recently.
About 40 million of the first series of the "Startlight Chinachip" developed by the firm have penetrated the global market in computers, mobile phones and digital cameras, occupying 40 per cent of the world's total and breaking a foreign stranglehold in the chip market.
