China could issue 4G licenses by year end

Fourth generation wireless services are on the way. Licences to operate the 4G wireless system have still not been issued in China, but the government says that could happen by the end of the year. How is it coming along?

A fantastic mobile experience.

This is one of China Mobile's 4G service centers in Zhengzhou, the provincial capital of Henan. Every day customers in the city can come to try out the 4G service in advance.

The fourth-generation wireless service is designed to deliver speed... four to ten times faster than today's 3G system, which is currently the most widespread, high-speed wireless service.

Shen Zhiwei, engineer of China Mobile, said, "The max download speed at peak rate can reach to 112 mega bits per second. And the average speed can also reach to 100 mega bits per second as well. It means if we download a movie of 1 gigabyte, it will take only 1 minute to complete in a 4G connection. That's ten time faster than 3G."

China's biggest telecom carrier, China Mobile, is promoting a homegrown 4G standard and hopes to start commercial rollout as soon as possible. The core technologies have been developed and the company has been ramping up its base station installations.

Li Xiaobang, , engineer of China Mobile, said, "The 4G wireless network shares the same base stations with the 3G network. So the first step for us is to examine all the base stations and report the data to the technological centers. And then we place the wires. It will take a while, but we hope we can finish the work as soon as we can so that people can use the new service once the 4G license is issued. "

There are 1.2 billion mobile phones in China, more than any other country in the world. The government says it will press ahead with building infrastructure and hopes to issue 4G licenses by the end of this year. That's good news for people looking forward to a brand-new mobile life.