Shang Bing, chairman of China Mobile, revealed its targeted plans to invest $11.7 billion (75.7 billion yuan) on 4G business and network expansion in a recent filing. The operator forecasts total 2016 capital expenditures will be down on 2015’s level to $28.7 billion (186.2 billion yuan).
In 2015, China Mobile increased its LTE base stations from 720,000 to 1.1 million. It aims to increase the number of base stations to 1.4 million by the end of 2016.
According to the filing, its infrastructure currently provides LTE coverage to 1.2 billion people. It grew the number of its LTE customers from 90 million in 2014 to 312 million last year. China Mobile expects to reach 500 million LTE subscribers by year's-end. The company stated that LTE customers account for 38% of its overall mobile base.
The carrier stated that it presently serves 826 million total customers, representing 63% market share.
