Wireless Networks

China Unicom launching LTE in March

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Category: Wireless Networks
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Following on from its major rivals, China Unicom will become the last operator in the country to launch 4G services later this month.

The operator’s TD-LTE offering will go live on March 18th across 25 cities, with plans to expand to a further 75 cities by the end of the year.

Unicom will also launch services based on the FDD strain of LTE once licences for the technology have been issued. The company’s general manager Lu Yimin confirmed that Unicom would invest CNY10 billion ($1.63 billion) in 4G in the next year.

Although TD-LTE licences were awarded in December to all three major Chinese operators, the government has yet to issue FDD-LTE permits – although it has vaguely promised that it will do so soon.

Market leader China Mobile pioneered commercial LTE in China and offers a number of devices that support the technology, among them the coveted iPhone 5S. China Telecom followed suit in February and is reportedly matching the market leader’s package deals for 4G.

China Unicom and China Telecom may be on the back foot, as the two plan on offering services based on both TD-LTE and FDD-LTE, which essentially divides their resources. China Mobile meanwhile will likely focus more on the domestically-developed TD strain.

 



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