By Li Hongmei
China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued TD-LTE licenses Wednesday to the three major operators-China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom, which means the long-coveted 4G era will soon descend upon the Chinese market.
China will issue 4G network licenses as early as Friday, providing users with 20 to 50 times faster mobile Internet access compared with the current 3G network and creating a new trillion-yuan market for devices and service upgrades, industry sources said today.
China Mobile, the world's largest mobile carrier, will offer 4G services on December 18, which means the long-awaited 4G licenses will be issued by the date at the latest. It will probably kick off its iPhone-compatible 4G network then, industry insiders said.
In cities like Beijing and Shenzhen, carriers have allowed users to apply for trial commercial use of 4G services with their own devices. In Shanghai, more than 1,600 people have been invited to test 4G services.
The next-generation network, along with e-commerce and software businesses, is expected to boost information consumption in China, the country's latest strategy to transform and upgrade its economy structure.
The initial investment for 4G will hit 500 billion yuan (US$82 billion), and is expected to hit 1 trillion yuan with the industry's development.
China Mobile is constructing and testing its 4G network nationwide, covering 100 cities, with an expected user base of 500 million people.
Huawei, ZTE and Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell are going to benefit from the 4G wave through providing telecommunications equipment.
Apple Inc is expected to get additional income of US$10 billion through offering the iPhone for China Mobile, and is forecast to sell 17 million iPhones through China Mobile, according to RBC.
"We are fully prepared for providing handsets for China's own 4G technology, from entry-level to high-end phones," said Wang Xuehong, HTC's chairman, in a statement.
China Mobile is expected to debut 4G phones that cost less than 1,000 yuan by the end of 2014.
