China Telecom prepping national 4G tender: report

China Telecom is planning to take its TDD/FDD 4G network nationwide later this year.

Although only officially a trial, it will effectively be a pre-commercial network covering 31 provinces, ahead of the expected issue of 4G licences in early 2013.

The operator decided on the expansion at a meeting late last month and will issue a formal tender in Q4, website C114 reported.  Currently it runs a limited trial in Guangdong, Jiangsu and two other provinces.

The decision follows confirmation recently by chairman Wang Xiaochu that it would deploy both FDD and TDD versions of LTE.

It will be almost certainly the world’s largest integrated TDD/FDD network. Market leader China Mobile deploys a converged 4G network in Hong Kong, but across the mainland is building out solely with TD-LTE.

Wang said most of the coverage load will be borne by FDD, with TDD deployed as a supplement in densely-populated urban areas.