Hangzhou is among the 10 pilot cities in the 4G network trial operation. For example, a bus in Hangzhou can guarantee that 20 passengers can watch high-definition movies using their mobile phones or touch pads at the same time. A bus passenger says she is surprised to see such progress.
"The movie runs very smoothly without any buffers. This is really awesome!"
4G is the fourth generation of cell phone and mobile communications standards. It is a successor to the third generation standards. China has developed its own edition of 4G technology TD-LTE, or Time Division Long Term Evolution. So far it has been recognized as one of the major international standards, though western countries are mainly using the LTE technology standard. It has more advanced technology, a higher transmission rate and more economic frequency utilization.
Besides Hangzhou, China Mobile has successfully carried out its trial operation in five other cities including Shanghai, Nanjing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Xiamen. Currently the company is testing the network in another six cities: Shenyang, Tianjin, Qingdao, Chengdu, Ningbo and Fuzhou. China Mobile Vice President Sha Yuejia says their next step is to expand 4G technology to base stations in these cities.
"We will build at least 20 thousand TD-LTE base stations this year. We will construct more than 200 thousand stations starting next year."
Meanwhile, China Mobile will carry out pre-commercialization of 4G business in cities like Hangzhou and Shenzhen.
International communication companies have seized the opportunities brought by technology upgrades in China. Alcatel-Lucent Company is an international software hardware and service supplier.
The company's president Rajeev Singh-Molares says they are also competing in the mainland market.
"TD-LTE technology for Alcatel Shanghai Company is a very important part of our overall innovation strategy. So far we have more than 100 sites built around Shanghai, and we expect to have more than 600 sites built in the next few months."
According to the government, it still needs two or three years to issue a 4G license for network carriers to formally provide services to users. Cao Shumin from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology says the industry needs to be well-prepared so that users can receive a mature, high-quality product.
"If the whole industry can grow very fast to be mature enough, then it would be easy by then to give the industry an operation license."
For CRI, I'm Liu Min.
