China Expands TD-LTE Trial Spectrum Available to Telcos
Bc.tech-ex.com, 11/20/13
Xie Feibo, head of the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's (MIIT) State Radio Regulatory Commission (SRRC), has announced the expansion of available TD-LTE trial spectrum in China at the Eighth Global TD-LTE Initiative (GTI) Workshop held in Bangkok, Thailand. China's three telecom operators will gain access to the following frequency bands:
- China Mobile (NYSE: CHL; 0941.HK) has been awarded the 1880-1900 MHz, 2320-2370 MHz, and 2575-2635 MHz frequencies, totaling 130MHz.
- China Unicom (NYSE: CHU; 0762.HK; 600050.SH) has been awarded the 2300-2320 MHz and 2555-2575 MHz frequencies, totaling 40MHz.
- China Telecom (NYSE: CHA; 0728.HK) has been awarded the 2370-2390 MHz and 2635-2655 MHz frequencies, totaling 40MHz.
- The 2300MHz and 2390MHz frequencies will be used for indoor TD-LTE coverage only.
Xie has also disclosed that the Chinese government is actively considering the use of 1.4GHz and 3.5GHz frequency bands for TD-LTE development, as well as the development of frequencies over 50GHz for future mobile broadband expansion.
The 1900-1920 MHz range used for the existing personal handyphone system (PHS) services was not allocated, despite previous reports of China appropriating PHS frequency bands for LTE development. Currently, frequency allocated for TD-LTE totals 345MHz, exceeding the 342MHz allocation for FDD-LTE.
China's 4G licensing process is expected to be completed by December.
Editor's Note: For more background on this topic, please see "China's MIIT Releases TD-LTE Spectrum Plan" MD 10/16/12 issue, "Rumor: China's Telcos Eye PHS Spectrum for TD-LTE" MD 7/09/13 issue, and "China May Allocate 1.4GHz Spectrum for TD-LTE" MD 11/25/12 issue.
Keywords: MIIT State Radio Regulatory Commission Xie Feibo China Telecom China Mobile China Unicom spectrum wireless 4G CHL TD-LTE 0728.HK 0762.HK 0941.HK 600050.SH CHA CHU PHS regulation
Sending
