China Mobile plans widespread rollout of TD-LTE network, 20,000 base stations to be operational this year
China Mobile announced a deal with Clearwire last fall to speed up the rollout of its TD-LTE network, and now China's largest wireless provider has revealed some additional details about when that rollout will take place and just how big it will be. Speaking at Mobile World Congress, China Mobile president Li Yu said that the company will have over 20,000 TD-LTE base stations in operation by the end of this year, and a full 200,000 up and running by the end of 2013. That initial deployment will occur in the six trial cities already announced, as well as three additional cities confirmed at MWC: Beijing, Tianjin and Qingdao. Two of those cities, Hangzhou and Shenzhen, are expected to have full TD-LTE coverage of their urban areas this year, while the others will have more isolated coverage until the next phase of the deployment begins.
