China’s Shanghai Daily is reporting that China Mobile will launch “4G” services on Dec. 18, bringing the latest wireless technology to the world’s largest mobile operator.
The TD-LTE network will run across a total of 130 megahertz of spectrum that China’s government this week set aside for the deployment of the service. That spectrum will be spread across the 1880-1900 MHz, 2320-2370 MHz and 2575-2635 MHz bands, according to a report from Digitimes. That report also noted that China Mobile rivals China Unicom and China Telecom also received 40 megahertz each of wireless spectrum in which to launch TD-LTE services. The China Unicom spectrum is in the 2300-2320 MHz and 2555-2575 MHz bands, while China Telecom will use spectrum in the 2370-2390 MHz and 2635-2655 MHz bands.
China’s Xinhau news service claims China Mobile’s launch will begin in Beijing, Guangzhou and Chongquing, with Shanghai set to receive service shortly after the initial launch. As part of the launch, Apple is also expected to unveil an iPhone model compatible with the China Mobile service. Reports have been surfacing over the past several months that Apple and China Mobile have reached an agreement to bring the handset vendor’s smartphone line to the carrier. China Mobile’s rivals currently offer Apple’s products, helped by their use of more common GSM-based (China Unicom) and CDMA-based (China Telecom) 3G technologies. China Mobile uses the TD-SCDMA standard for its 3G service. The latest iPhone models support TD-LTE services in the 2570-2620 MHz, 1880-1920 MHz and 2300-2400 MHz bands.
China Mobile has announced over the past several months vendors for its $7 billion TD-LTE plans, which include Ericsson, Nokia Solutions and Networks, Alcatel-Lucent, Huawei and ZTE. NSN has claimed to have scored the “largest non-Chinese vendor share” of China Mobile’s TD-LTE network plans. The vendor claimed that it was awarded 11% of the total contract, consistent with the share provided to other non-Chinese vendors, as well as “another low single-digit share as a result of selling through resellers also selected” by China Mobile.
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