A newly-established joint venture has ambitions of rolling out its own TD-LTE network in China, with a focus on providing B2B services.
VelaTel Global Communications and Next Generation Special Network Communication Technology Co (NGSN) announced they will form a PRC operating company to deploy and operate the network.
NGSN has a VAS license to provide location-based and other information services in China, while VelaTel's raison d'etre is funding the rollout and operation of wireless broadband networks, particularly in emerging markets.
The companies announced that they will work on deploying the TD-LTE network using equipment from ZTE, starting with the Heilongjiang Province in the northeast.
Initially, the service will concentrate on providing navigation and LBS services, but the companies plan to later expand into other regions as well as into offering “4G network services.”
But according to VelaTel's CEO, George Alvarez, the network will follow a business-to-business model, “instead of a retail consumer model, and the attendant challenges of marketing budgets and competition with other carriers for subscribers.”
NGSN will act as an 'anchor tenant' to the network, helping recruit other paying business customers onto it.
The network will also have potential applications in home automation, energy saving/environmental protection, industrial automation, health care, precision agriculture, public security and video surveillance, NGSN GM Lu Bin added.
Under the ownership structure, VelaTel will have control of the operating company joint venture.