China Mobile 4G roll-out details revealed
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China Mobile 4G roll-out details revealed

China Mobile has awarded more than half of its contracts to build out 4G in the country to domestic equipment makers.

European vendors have also been successful, and Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson and Nokia Solutions and Networks will also be part of the 4G rollout in the country.

Alcatel-Lucent has said it will provide 11% of the work to deploy the first phase of 207,000 mobile stations, with plans to complete the build-out by the end of the year.

It will deploy 23,000 base stations across Shanghai, Nanjing and Qingdao, the three major economic hubs in China. The value of the contract is estimated at approximately $3.2 billion.

Ericsson said it will deploy TD-LTE technology in China, which differs from the 4G technology that is deployed across Europe, with all three European vendors awarded the same share of the work, according to the Financial Times.

Six domestic vendors have been chosen by the Chinese operator, including Huawei, ZTE, Datang Mobile, FiberHome Technologies, Potevio and New Postcom Equipment Company.

China is one of the largest markets in the world that still does not have 4G access, and China Mobile – with 750 million subscribers – has accelerated the roll-out to match smartphone demand.

ZTE and Huawei have been awarded the largest share of the work, but no financial details were disclosed.

4G services in China will launch early next year.

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