Rumor: China Mobile to Tender for TD-LTE Equipment in May
C114, 4/19/13
An industry source revealed today that China Mobile (NYSE: CHL; 0941.HK) will launch its tender for expanded 2013 TD-LTE trials next week. The operator reportedly plans to set up 200,000 new base stations, and to begin accepting bids for RMB 20 bln worth of key TD-LTE equipment in May. China Mobile is expected to spend RMB 41.7 bln on 4G this year. The operator will reportedly concentrate on the F-band (1880 MHz-1920 MHz) for TD-LTE development, a focus that industry insiders say portends good news for companies that have a history of winning bids with TD-SCDMA, including ZTE (0763.HK; 000063.SZ), Huawei, and Datang Telecom (600198.SH), and bodes ill for companies like Ericsson and Nokia-Siemens Networks.
China Mobile has set up TD-LTE trial networks of varying scales in 15 cities to date, and has built out full coverage of urban regions in Hangzhou, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou for large-scale TD-LTE demonstration networks. At the start of 2013, China Mobile chairman Xi Guohua announced that by the end of the year the operator would have TD-LTE network coverage in more than 100 cities around China through a combination of new construction and network upgrades, bringing TD-LTE service to more than 500 mln people. China Mobile also plans to procure 1 mln TD-LTE terminals.
Editor's Note: China Mobile reportedly will begin its first 2013 tender for 4G terminals in late April, purchasing 160,000 TD-LTE terminals, including 30,000 MiFi terminals, 100,000 customer-premises equipment (CPE) units, and 10,000 TD-LTE mobile handsets. China Mobile's 2013 TD-LTE terminals procurement is expected to reach 1.24 mln. For more background on this topic, please see "Rumor: China Mobile to Tender for 160,000 TD-LTE Terminals" MD 4/15/13 issue.
Keywords: Xi Guohua China Mobile procurement wireless 000063.SZ 0763.HK 600198.SH Datang Telecom Huawei ZTE CHL TD-LTE 0941.HK spectrum Nokia Siemens Networks base station network construction mobile network equipment
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