China Mobile issues 100G backbone tender

China Mobile is set to deploy its first 100 Gbps backbone network to support future mobile data load.

Chinese telecom website C114 reports that the operator sent documents to vendors yesterday for a 3 billion yuan ($480m) tender.

Unnamed sources told C114 that the huge backbone was far too big for its current needs and, because of the relative early stage of 100G, it is also quite costly.

But 40G won’t be enough to meet demand for future TD-LTE data. China Mobile has just issued contracts to seven suppliers for a large-scale TD-LTE trial.

The decision to deploy 100G has been relatively fast. China Mobile began its first provincial level 100G DWDM tests in late June with Alcatel-Lucent and Huawei equipment.