China Mobile has selected 16 vendors to supply nearly 35,000 TD-LTE terminal devices for its 4G trials in the country.
Citing a source familiar with the situation, SinaTech said the Chinese mobile giant, which launched the procurement tender in September, has purchased 34,700 devices for the TD-LTE network tests in 13 cities across the nation.
Financial details of the deal are not disclosed.
Huawei, Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell, together with ZTE and seven other vendors, will also supply 11,600 MiFi wireless Wi-Fi modems. Huawei, ZTE and Samsung will supply 300 dual-mode TD-LTE/TD-SCDMA handsets. Seven vendors, including ZTE and Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell will also provide CPE modules for China Mobile.
The scope of the procurement tender originally included tablets, but China Mobile has reportedly excluded TD-LTE tablets due to the immaturity of the technology.
The tender is the first phase of China Mobile’s 4G device procurement. China Mobile will also commence the second phase of its TD-LTE terminal procurement for 2013 in over 100 cities in the fourth quarter this year, with plans to order more than 200,000 TD-LTE devices, including data cards and mobile phones.