China to commercialize 4G mobile services by 2012

Shanghai Daily, January 28, 2011

In the 4G era, China Mobile's users will also be able to use Apple's next generation iPhone, which will support the 4G TD-LTE technology, without changing numbers.

In the 4G era, China Mobile's users will also be able to use Apple's next generation iPhone, which will support the 4G TD-LTE technology, without changing numbers.

China will commercialize 4G technology in 2012, which provides mobile users a 50 times higher mobile download speed compared with the existing 3G network, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said yesterday.

"The 4G trials have begun in chosen cities nationwide and it should last for 18 months (before commercialization)," Zhang Feng, director of the ministry's telecommunications development department, said during a conference in Beijing yesterday.

China Mobile's users will also be able to use Apple's next-generation iPhone, which will support the 4G TD-LTE technology, without changing numbers.

The 4G tests will include both domestic and overseas telecom firms, including Ericsson, Huawei and ZTE, Zhang said during the conference broadcast on the ministry's website.

China is testing the fourth-generation mobile services based on TD-LTE (time division-Long Term Evolution) in cities including Shanghai.

Apple said it will "fully support" China Mobile's 4G network with its future iPhone, Sina.com reported yesterday citing the telco's chairman, Wang Jianzhou.