China Mobile expands 4G pilot program to Beijing

The Sony Xperia M35t is a China-only phone that works with the country's TD-LTE network.
(Credit: Sony)

The Chinese government has yet to issue 4G licenses to the country's telcom operators, but China Mobile has jumped the gun and announced the expansion of its "experimental" 4G program in the country's capital city, Beijing.

While the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information hinted in March that 4G licenses would be issued in China before December 31, China Mobile, on Wednesday, has already started selling its first two TD-LTE compatible smartphone models. These include the Sony Xperia SP M35t and Samsung Galaxy Note 2, both exclusive to Beijing customers.

China Mobile assured existing China Mobile customers will not be required to change their phone numbers, though existing SIM cards will need to be replaced. At the same time, the 4G connection will be limited to an area within the Third Ring Road (Beijing is encircled by six ring roads) and specific locations including Tsinghua University, the Beijing China World Trade Center, and the city's Central Business District.

Amid a rare decline in quarterly profits of 8.8 percent in Q3, attributed to increasing competition from OTT apps including WeChat, and China Mobile's US$7 billion investment funneled into building the operator's 4G infrastructure, analysts have pinned China Mobile's soon-to-be-approved TD-LTE network to be the answer to its financial woes.

For now, smartphone manufacturers including Samsung, ZTE, Huawei, and Sony, have been awarded 4G permits to sell 4G handsets in China .

However, the news that China Mobile subscribers have been looking forward to is the highly anticipated 4G partnership with Apple to begin the sale of the iPhone 5S and 5C through China Mobile.

Till now, the iPhone and China Mobile's current TD-SCDMA network are not compatible. But a listing on the Web site of Tenaa (China's equivalent of the FCC) suggested that both smartphone models will support TD-LTE and TD-SCDMA. China Mobile has added fuel to the flames with an ad promoting 4G on the company's Web site, and leaked posters scattered around the country (although the authenticity of the posters have not been verified). Then there's a job posting published by Apple explicitly looking for a China Mobile specialist engineer.

These factors could mean 700 million China Mobile subscribers are that much closer to getting their hands on a 4G iPhone, among other 4G smartphones.