4G network to lead the world

China Mobile set to deploy new system covering 500m people across country

China Mobile Communications Corp, the parent company of the world's largest telecom carrier by subscriber, announced on Tuesday that it plans to deploy the world's biggest 4G LTE network in China this year, covering more than half a billion people, according to the company's chairman.

In a keynote speech at the Global TD-LTE Initiative summit in Barcelona, Xi Guohua said the homegrown TD-LTE technology is gaining in popularity across the globe as the industry matures.

China Mobile will build a TD-LTE 4G network in China this year that will cover more than 100 cities, or about 500 million people, Xi said. "It will be the largest LTE network around the world."

Meanwhile, China Mobile is about to acquire more than 1 million TD-LTE terminals, including smartphones and data cards, in 2013.

"Besides high-end mobile phones (supporting TD-LTE standard), low- and mid-end mobile phones will also enter the market, providing customers with more choices," the chairman said.

Mobile phone vendors LG Electronics, HTC Corp, Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and ZTE Corp have partnered with China Mobile to launch four models of TD-LTE smartphones.

The newly unveiled handsets are all multi-mode, multi-band devices, which means customers can use one smartphone to connect different mobile networks anywhere, including networks that support the other mainstream FDD LTE 4G standard.

China Mobile for the first time released two TD-LTE terminals under its own brand on Tuesday.