Wang Xudong, minister of Information Industry (MII), made the remark at a recent tele-conference on national information industry.

3G refers to the third-generation mobile communication technology following the first generation of analog communication technology (1G) and second generation of mobile communication technology (2G).

The most prominent feature of 3G phones, said experts, is that it provides not only a "communication tool", but also multimedia services in voice, data and video and wireless Internet access. China has promised to provide 3G services before Olympic 2008 in Beijing.

Conditions are mature for China's 3G development after years of research and trials, Wang said.

Experts believe that the MII will take this opportunity to regroup domestic telecommunication operators through 3G licence issuance.

Encouraged by the imminent start of 3G program and possible merger or acquisition whereafter, the share price of China Unicom soared by 10 percent daily limit on the mainland market Wednesday, while China Netcom soared more than 30 percent in Hong Kong the same day.

It is expected that the total value of telecommunication service on the Chinese mainland would amount to 1.87 trillion yuan (about 240 billion U.S. dollars) in 2007, a year-on-year growth of 23 percent, according to Wang.