phone carrier

China assigned third-generation mobile phone licenses Wednesday to three carriers in a long-awaited step that is expected to prompt $41 billion in spending on new equipment.

Licenses were granted to China Mobile Ltd., China Unicom Ltd. and China Telecom Corp., the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said. Third-generation, or 3G, technology supports Web surfing, wireless video and other services and the start of service is expected to spur new revenue growth.

China has 650 million mobile phone accounts, according to industry minister Li Zhiyong.

When Debra and Lee Sherbeyn first moved to rural Virginia 14 years ago, they didn't own a computer, much less fret over access to the Web. It wasn't long before they had a machine and were logging onto the Internet using a dial-up modem. The arrangement suited them fine until family members started sending pictures by e-mail. It became downright untenable in 2004 when Lee entered the real estate business in their home in Bealeton, Va., about 58 miles southwest of Washington. "You can't wait all day for a picture of a house to download," Debra says.