China Mobile, the largest mobile carrier in the world, is reportedly cutting expansion of its TD-SCDMA 3G network and focusing on its TD-LTE network, which supports 4G connectivity.
One telecom insider told RCR Wireless News that this announcement, which was first reported by Caixin Media Company, marks the end of the air interface: “TD-SCDMA is dead.”
According to the carrier, TD-SCDMA comprises four core portions: base stations, radio network controllers, mobile switching centers and serving GPRS support nodes. The network operates with 15 megahertz of spectrum in the 2 GHz band and 40 megahertz of spectrum in the 1.9 GHz band.
TD-SCDMA was developed by the Chinese and deployed for a limited trial in 2008. In 2009, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology gave China Mobile a license to operate the TD-SCDMA network.
China Mobile’s two major competitors, China Telecom and China Unicom, were assigned licenses to respectively operate CDMA2000 and W-CDMA networks, both international standards.
An RCR Wireless News insider said TD-SCDMA was developed and deployed to “highlight innovative leadership” in China.
Caixin reports that China Mobile has invested an estimated $32 billion in the TD-SCDMA 3G network build-out, developing compatible devices and marketing.
From that report: “In the past year, demand for 3G wireless has been fading as consumers migrate to newer, faster 4G services, including a network built on China Mobile’s 4G TD-LTE standard.”
As a result, China Mobile sources told Caixin, China Mobile has decided to gradually phase out its 5-year-old TD-SCDMA network while shifting its focus to the 4G network. The telecom plans to continue providing a stable 3G network, sources said, but won’t spend any more to expand it.
