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China 4G licenses to be issued in 2013

The Chinese government will be issuing 4G permits sooner than previously announced, which will give its homegrown Time-Division Long-Term Evolution technology a boost.
Written by Liau Yun Qing, Contributor

Licenses for 4G services in China may come sooner than previously announced and is expected to give a boost to its Time-Division Long-Term Evolution (TD-LTE) technology.

A Xinhua report on Monday, citing Miao Wei, head of China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), said the country will start issuing 4G permits in about a year's time, and will be a boon for the next-generation wireless technology's development which is spearheaded locally.

The latest announcement contradicts a report in March when the minister said 4G licenses in China will not be issued until 2014. This is to allow operators to build more base stations and for more handsets to be developed.

Operators such as China Mobile have been ramping up its LTE base station installations. The telco plans to build 350,000 TD-LTE base stations in the country by 2014, up from the 20,000 base stations which are expected to be completed by the end of the year.

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