China Mobile Accelerates TD-LTE Development in Network, Terminal and Service

HONG KONG, Feb. 27, 2014

Li Yue pointed out at the event that China Mobile looks forward to providing ubiquitous and high-speed network services for users by constructing a high-quality, widely-covered 4G network.

In network construction, China Mobile hopes to promote the evolution to LTE-A and increase the data rate from 100M to 200M, 400M or even 1G. The company is performing VoLTE network tests and plans to initiate scale-up tests in the second half of this year with the goal of commercializing VoLTE by the end of 2014. In addition, China Mobile will accelerate the converged networking of FDD/TDD to provide global universal network solutions with high efficiency. 500,000 base stations will be constructed across 340 cities in China by the end of this year. Also, China Mobile joined forces with South Korea's KT to launch two-way global roaming service allowing interoperability between TD-LTE and FDD-LTE. In the future, China Mobile will partner with more international operators to provide 4G global roaming services.

In terms of 4G terminals, China Mobile will focus on the development of global, large-scale and low-cost 4G terminals to attract more 4G subscribers. China Mobile plans to purchase more than 100 million LTE terminals and promote smartphones supporting 5 modes and 12 or more bands. During the summit, GTI showcased 5-mode 13-band terminals in collaboration with its industry partners. China Mobile will offer more models of 5-mode 10-band terminals priced at $100-150 to lower the cost of 4G terminals. Now, China Mobile is cooperating with Orange on a model of TDD/FDD converged smartphone supporting most global communications standards and frequency bands and available for NFC.

For the service, China Mobile formally issued a "White Paper for the Next Generation of Converged Communications", touting itself as an operator able to combine the communication capability of mobile phone terminals with the experience of mobile internet. New Calling, New Messaging and New Contacting are the three major highlights of China Mobile's RCS. New voice experience will be created based on VoLTE, such as HD voice/video calling, sharing during the call and one click for multi-party call; new messaging service will enable multiple formats of messaging and group messaging with an integrated interface; new contacting service allows more flexible contact management covering grouping, personal card, etc.

"As the world is being ushered into the 4G era, bandwidth is growing further and broader," Li said. "There will be more applications based on video and more service available to all walks of society. It's hard for us to conclude, at present, what this will bring to the world. But one thing is certain - this will greatly change people's lives, change the overall development of society and the informatization process. So, what 4G will bring to us is a better life, freer jobs and lower consumption of energy."

The GTI summit convened over 500 delegates from world operators, vendors, service providers, media and consulting companies. With ongoing development over the past three years, now GTI has 100 operator members and 73 partners. Under the promotion of GTI, 28 commercial TD-LTE networks have been launched around the world and more than 40 operator members are planning and constructing their commercial TD-LTE networks.