Airway (艾维通信) and Samsung Team up to Bring WiBro to China

According to Chinese media, Airway Communications, a company based in Wuhan, Hubei Province signed an agreement with Samsung on November 20th 2006. The two companies plan to establish a wireless broadband R&D center in Wuhan, initially focusing on developing WiBro products. If the partnership goes well, Samsung may shift the manufacturing of more communications products to Wuhan. Airway Communications is the reincarnation of a wireless communications company based in Beijing. It's rather difficult to launch new services in Beijing due to regulatory issues. Hubei, thousands of miles away from Beijing, is a better test bed. Xiao Lingtong (PAS) was first launched in Hubei. The Chinese goverment has not announced clear stance on mobile broadband technologies but Hubei provincial government apparently wants to be the first to eat crabs. Currently, Airway focuses mainly on system integration and service support/maintenance.