BEIJING--China gave out licenses for speedier mobile services Wednesday, paving the way for the country's state-owned telecom carriers to accelerate building new networks.
The licenses will allow China's telecom operators to run fourth-generation mobile technology already deployed in developed countries like the U.S. The new networks are expected to prove a boon to the country's numerous Internet companies, which are seeking speedier mobile connections to provide services to China's growing number of smarpthone users. The licensing also clears the way for China Mobile Ltd., the world's biggest carrier by subscribers, to offer its own version of Apple Inc.'s iPhone.
China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said it gave licenses to the country's three major state-owned telecom service providers to run fourth-generation mobile networks operating under the Time-Division Long-Term Evolution or TD-LTE standard championed by China. In separate statements, China Mobile Ltd., China Telecom Corp. and China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd. confirmed that they received licenses. China Telecom said that it plans to begin 4G services in the first quarter.
Executives from China Telecom and China Unicom previously said they preferred to run a network using the more popular LTE-FDD or Long-Term Evolution Frequency Division Duplex standard favored by major U.S. carriers like Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc. Both said they planned to apply for a license to operate a LTE-FDD in the future.
In early September, China's Telecom Equipment Certification Center gave Apple the final license necessary to run the iPhone on the network operated by China Mobile, but analysts have said the company likely had to wait until it received permission to run its fourth-generation network to release the phone.
China Mobile has more than 700 million users, but its proprietary standard has prevented the company from offering the iPhone. China Unicom and China Telecom have sold iPhones for several years.
Though the TD-LTE standard is being rolled out in some countries, like Japan and India, many of the world's most popular smartphone makers have only begun to make phones catered to the standard. The new licenses increase the likelihood of a wide array of handsets being released to support the standard.
The licensing also opens a new front in what has become an intense competition between all three service providers as they fight to attract users who spend more for data services. China Mobile is in the pole position in the competition. Though its market share slid after it was saddled with an unpopular and unreliable standard for its third-generation network, it has invested massively in building out the new fourth-generation network. Earlier this year it committed to spending $7 billion to build 207,000 base stations for the new network around the country.
Write to Paul Mozur at [email protected]
The licenses will allow China's telecom operators to run fourth-generation mobile technology already deployed in developed countries like the U.S. The new networks are expected to prove a boon to the country's numerous Internet companies, which are seeking speedier mobile connections to provide services to China's growing number of smarpthone users. The licensing also clears the way for China Mobile Ltd., the world's biggest carrier by subscribers, to offer its own version of Apple Inc.'s iPhone.
China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said it gave licenses to the country's three major state-owned telecom service providers to run fourth-generation mobile networks operating under the Time-Division Long-Term Evolution or TD-LTE standard championed by China. In separate statements, China Mobile Ltd., China Telecom Corp. and China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd. confirmed that they received licenses. China Telecom said that it plans to begin 4G services in the first quarter.
Executives from China Telecom and China Unicom previously said they preferred to run a network using the more popular LTE-FDD or Long-Term Evolution Frequency Division Duplex standard favored by major U.S. carriers like Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc. Both said they planned to apply for a license to operate a LTE-FDD in the future.
In early September, China's Telecom Equipment Certification Center gave Apple the final license necessary to run the iPhone on the network operated by China Mobile, but analysts have said the company likely had to wait until it received permission to run its fourth-generation network to release the phone.
China Mobile has more than 700 million users, but its proprietary standard has prevented the company from offering the iPhone. China Unicom and China Telecom have sold iPhones for several years.
Though the TD-LTE standard is being rolled out in some countries, like Japan and India, many of the world's most popular smartphone makers have only begun to make phones catered to the standard. The new licenses increase the likelihood of a wide array of handsets being released to support the standard.
The licensing also opens a new front in what has become an intense competition between all three service providers as they fight to attract users who spend more for data services. China Mobile is in the pole position in the competition. Though its market share slid after it was saddled with an unpopular and unreliable standard for its third-generation network, it has invested massively in building out the new fourth-generation network. Earlier this year it committed to spending $7 billion to build 207,000 base stations for the new network around the country.
Write to Paul Mozur at [email protected]