China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is set to issue 4G licenses to China's major telecom operators. China Mobile, the country's biggest, has already shown its eagerness to get ahead of the race.
Earlier this month, the company announced the expansion of its 4G network and started selling TD-LTE, compatible smartphone models in Beijing. TD-LTE is China’s version of 4G LTE technology.
It is the next big thing for Chinese cellphone users. The high speed 4G network is here. On Nov. 6th, China Mobile, the telecommunication giant, has launched 4 types of 4G contract phones in its Beijing stores.
"The speed of 4G will really enhance user experience. For example, users can now use app functions directly through the internet, they don’t have to download the apps first." Jiang Tao, Chairman and Founder of CSDN.net said.
The future is bright, but despite the momentum, a lot still needs be done before the 4G network could obtain mass popularity, as most users are still on the slow 2G service.
While China mobile has the lion share in the 2G market, users are getting increasingly eager to upgrade. The number of 2G subscribers with China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom have been dramatically dropping. And many users are turning away from China Mobile. Analysts say that this explains China Mobile’s enthusiasm in rolling out its 4G service.
In China Mobile’s endeavour to shift the current competition landscape, analysts say the bottle neck is infrastructure. 4G signals are still unavailable to most parts of the country. Therefore, the speed to construct base stations across the country could determine the destiny of China Mobile’s 4G campaign.
Source: CcTV
