China Mobile, the world’s largest mobile operator by subscribers, has announced new 4G initiatives and partnerships as it steps up its efforts to push TD-LTE to the global market.
Speaking at the Global TD-LTE Initiative summit yesterday in Barcelona, China Mobile executive vice president Sha Yuejia said the mobile giant plans to build one million TD-LTE base stations to achieve 100% 4G coverage before the end of this year.
The company also aims to boost its 4G subscriber base to 250 million by year-end from 90 million in 2014, and double sales of its 4G terminals from 100 million units in 2014 to 200 million units over the same period, China Mobile said in a statement.
As part of its 4G push, China Mobile has teamed up with Qualcomm, Marvell, Mediatek, Spreadtrum and Leadcore Technology to launch five €50 ($56) chipsets that support five bands.
On the network side, Sha said the company will accelerate LTE-Advanced deployment and explore on new technologies such as 3D-MIMO, big data network optimization and SDN/NFV.
Also at Mobile World Congress, China Mobile formed a strategic partnership with India’s Bharti Airtel on 4G.
The collaboration will focus around 4G TD-LTE and subsequent evolution of 4G technology standards and products, terminal, converged communications, VoLTE, roaming, among others, China Mobile said.
The move comes a day after the company forged a three-way collaboration with Japan’s NTT DoCoMo and KT of South Korea on 5G.
In addition, China Mobile and Orange France signed a strategic cooperation agreement to collaboration on a number of aspects, such as business customers, international roaming, NFC services, and unified authentication.
The pair will leverage their respective advantages in terms of network, customer service, technology and resources to bring better international roaming experience and digital life services, China Mobile said in a statement released Tuesday.