Telecom Lead Asia: China Mobile is planning to start 4G
wireless service in Hong Kong in April. It will compete with rivals including
Telstra and PCCW.
China Mobile will offer more than one 4G handset when it
rolls out the service on April 25. The largest mobile service provider in the
world is planning to offer 10 4G phones for customers this year.
China Mobile will become the second operator to offer 4G
in Hong Kong after Telstra’s CSL in 2010.
Discounts for handsets will be offered to 4G subscribers.
China Mobile’s 4G plans will be priced close to slower 3G services.
The high-speed service, based on LTE technology, offers
maximum download speeds of 100 megabits a second, or as much as 50 times
quicker than 3G.
Hutchison Telecommunications Hong Kong Holdings and PCCW
also plan to start 4G services later this year.
China Mobile accounts for more than 20 percent of Hong
Kong’s wireless market.
China Mobile’s state-owned parent is rolling out a trial
network for 4G service in other parts of China that’s based on the TDD mode.
The TD-LTE 4G trial will be expanded to nine cities in
China from six last year. The company will test 20,000 4G base stations this
year, taking the total number in the China trial to more than 200,000 in 2013.
Hong Kong had 15.1 million mobile-phone customers as of
January, according to the city’s Office of the Communications Authority.
