China Mobile Promotes Mainland-Developed 4G System Worldwide

Hong Kong — China Mobile Ltd (0941.HK) said it was seeking opportunities for investments or partnerships with global players to speed the international adoption of TD-LTE, China’s homegrown fourth-generation (4G) mobile communication system.

“We will aim to expand in emerging markets first, but any projects that would help our development of TD-LTE technology will definitely be considered,” Bloomberg reported China Mobile Chairman, Wang Jianzhou, as saying at the World Economic Forum last month in Davos, Switzerland.

4G can provide connection speed 50 times faster than the current 3G network and is considered to be a future growth engine for the telecommunications industry. The TD-LTE system can be used only in China at present.

According to People’s Daily, many large vendors from across the globe gathered at the Mobile World Congress and jointly initiated a worldwide TD-LTE development proposal, which aims to promote the adoption of the technology as an international 4G standard by the International Communications Union (ITU).

“Over 60 operators took part in the forum and more than 15 announced the adoption of the standard,” Li Zhengmao, vice president of China Mobile, said at the congress.

The TD-LTE standard has been submitted along with five other competing standards to the ITU, including LTE, a technology that increases network speed, and WiMax, a technology that provides wireless data.

According to an Associate Professor from The University of Lund, Mattias Ganslandt, TD-LTE bridges the gap between LTE and WiMax and “utilises cheaper and less congested radio spectrum compared to LTE”.

China Mobile will begin launching pre-commercial versions of TD-LTE this year in seven cities in China. It is reported that more than 20 trial TD-LTE networks have already been installed, including a successful demonstration that took place at the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai last year.

At the end of 2010, China Mobile had approximately 590 million subscribers, 80 million of whom use smartphones. The company said it had established 640,000 base stations across the country, providing coverage to 98% of the Chinese population.

Tags: Company News, Telecoms