Research and Markets: LTE in China—The Next Gold Mine After 3G

DUBLIN-(Business Wire)-September 29, 2009 - Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/0a369f/lte_in_chinathe_n) has announced the addition of the "LTE in China—The Next Gold Mine After 3G" report to their offering.

The Chinese government has awarded 3G licenses for TD-SCDMA, WCDMA, and CDMA 2000 to China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom, respectively, effectively bringing China into the 3G era. From the point of view of technical evolution, what's next for 3G?

In China, the situation is clear, as both the Chinese government and the three principal telecommunication operators have announced their support of LTE. However, the LTE strategy of each operator varies according to their current positions in the telecommunications market and their currently adopted 3G technologies.

In this report, we first provide an overview of the current mobile telecommunications market both globally and in China, followed by a brief introduction to LTE technology and In-Stat's analysis of the Chinese government's possible spectrum allocation plan for LTE. The report then analyzes in detail the driving forces behind LTE and the challenges it faces in penetrating the Chinese market. We also analyze the LTE strategies of each of China's three principal operators. Finally, we provide forecasts for LTE terminal shipments and subscribers in China through 2013.

LTE the Only Road to Wireless 4G in China

Although competing 4G technologies will come to the fore in other countries, LTE will be the only route to 4G wireless service in China. TD-LTE, one of the two flavors of LTE, will receive much more support than LTE-FDD in China. In 2010, China Mobile will use TD-LTE to construct a pre-commercial LTE network.

"China Mobile will be the first operator to launch commercial LTE operation," says Anty Zheng, In-Stat analyst. "This will happen in limited areas in 2011. China Telecom and China Unicom will, we believe, follow China Mobile's lead."

Recent research by In-Stat found the following:

2009 is the first year of China's 3G era in which three 3G technologies (WCDMA, CDMA2000, and TD-SCDMA) have been adopted by separate operators.
The author predicts that China's LTE subscribers will number no more than 500,000 by 2013, and that 80% of these will be China Mobile subscribers.
China Unicom and China Telecom will begin LTE network construction later than China Mobile, likely in 2012.

Recent research, LTE in China—The Next Gold Mine After 3G, covers the market for wireless service in China. It includes:

Forecasts of Chinese mobile subscribers including breakouts for 3G and LTE through 2013.
Analysis of LTE technology and of the Chinese market for it.
Analysis of Chinese mobile operators' strategies.
Profiles of LTE vendors: Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, Huawei, Nokia Siemens Networks, Qualcomm, ZTE.

Companies Mentioned: