China Mobile Launches Independent Fixed-Line Broadband Services
Economic Information Daily, 11/07/12
China Mobile (NYSE: CHL; 0941.HK) began rolling out "China Mobile Tietong Broadband" fiber-optic internet access services at speeds of up to 20 Mbps in Beijing, Jiangsu, and Sichuan in late October. Unlike the "Tietong Broadband" service previously operated by China Mobile subsidiary China Tietong, the new FTTx service is entirely self-operated by local China Mobile subsidiaries using the operator's own fiber-optic broadband network.
China Mobile says it completed testing on its 100 Gbps fiber-optic backbone network in February 2012 before activating the network - the first of its kind for any Chinese telecom operator - in June. Despite not having yet received a fixed-line network license from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), China Mobile has drafted a broadband development strategy calling for sufficient bandwidth to support 10 Mbps access for individual subscribers, 100 Mbps access for home subscribers, and 1 Gbps access for enterprise subscribers.
Industry insiders believe that the move is part of China Mobile's preparations to receive a fixed-line license, enabling the operator to deploy services as quickly as possible after receiving permission to do so.
Editor's Note: For more background on this topic, please see "China Mobile Activates 100G DWDM Backbone Testing System" MD 7/11/12 issue and "Rumor: China Mobile Angles for Fixed-Line License" MD 6/01/12 issue.
Keywords: China Mobile China Tietong fixed-line fixed-line license broadband license telecom FTTx MIIT Internet access CHL 0941.HK
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