China Mobile said it has made a very good progress on 4G, with subscribers reaching 6.5 million in less than six months since the launch.
Although 4G subscribers now represents less than 1% of the company’s total subscriber base, they generate three times the standard APRU and consume 10 times the mobile data that GSM/TD-SCMA users do each month, China Mobile chief executive Li Yue told audiences yesterday at the 2014 GTI Asia Summit in Shanghai.
Li said 4G now carries 10% of the company’s mobile data traffic, indicating a rapid takeup of its TD-LTE services.
China Mobile, which launched 4G service in December, has set an ambitious target of 50 million TD-LTE subscribers by the end of 2014. The company is expanding its 4G network coverage to over 340 cities with 500,000 base stations across the country. It also plans to sell more than 100 million TD-LTE terminals by the end of the year, Li said.
“We hope to introduce more than 300 models of TD-LTE terminals this year, and our major focus is to bring $100 to $150 4G smartphones that support 5-mode and 10- frequency bands to our customers,” he said. “While many devices available in the market cost $150, we expect to see those priced under $100 come into the market by the end of this year.”
China Mobile is also trailing VoLTE in 5 cities at the moment. The company earlier has stated that it plans to launch commercial service by year-end.
Meanwhile China Mobile will also begin outdoor testing of RCS in the third quarter, with commercial launch planned in the middle of 2015, Li noted.
Li’s comments came as China Mobile established RCS interconnection with Singapore’s StarHub at the Mobile Asia Expo on Wednesday.