The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in the country today announced it had issued TD-LTE standard licences to China’s three largest carriers.
The more common FDD-LTE licences were not mentioned in the announcement but China Telecom told local reporters it would apply for such a licence as soon as possible.
As the largest mobile carrier in China by subscribers, China Mobile, which owns a 4G network that is heavily based on TD-LTE, is expected to reap the most benefit from the licences as it begins its 4G roll-out.
The ministry also awarded China Mobile a licence to operate fixed-line broadband services, a facility which previously only China Unicom and China Telecom were able to offer.
In a statement, China Mobile said it would “collaborate with the supply chain to make an all-out effort to push forward the construction and operation of 4G mobile communications”.
The three companies were awarded 4G spectrum in the country in November this year and earlier in October, China Mobile announced its vendors for the 4G roll-out.
China Unicom declined to comment to requests from Reuters.
