Li Yue, CEO of China Mobile, at the GTI (Global TD-LTE Initiative) Asia Conference during the Mobile Asia Expo 2014 hosted by GSMA in Shanghai, said that its 4G network has accumulated 6.5 million users and covered 300 cities across the country since its launch six months ago.
According to Li, China Mobile has set up over 320,000 TD-LTE base stations with the 4G service commercially available. Although the 4G customers currently account for less than 1 percent of the total subscribers, they contribute 10% of total mobile data traffic, and 3 times the ARPU. In a statement, Li said that they are hoping to introduce over 300 models of TD-LTE terminals this year, and that their major focus is to bring $100-$150 4G smartphones that support 5-mode and 10-band or 5-mode and 12-band to their customers. He added that the 5-mode global roaming-enabled 4G terminals priced under $100 are expected to hit the market at the end of this year.
The company aims to promote the development of LTE-Advanced and hopes that new technologies with higher efficiency can be applied to the LTE network. GTI, jointly founded by China Mobile, SoftBank, Bharti, Clearwire and Vodafone, has now enrolled 108 operator members and 86 partners and has promoted the commercial launch of more than 400 models of TD-LTE terminals with 37 TD-LTE commercial networks all over the world.
"China Mobile is willing to join hands with industry players to promote the convergence of RCS and VoLTE. We also expect that all telcom operators can tie up with each other, under the coordination and organization of GSMA, to improve the construction of future-proof communication systems, and provide users with more flexible and friendly service."
- Li Yue, CEO, China Mobile
