The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China has formally issued three TD-LTE 4G licenses to the three major Chinese telecom carriers: China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom.
Meanwhile, MIIT lifted its limit on China Mobile's operation of fixed-line businesses, allowing this company to enter the fixed-line broadband market. China Mobile's fixed-line communications businesses will be operated by its subsidiary China Railway Communication Company, which is also known as China Tietong. This means China Mobile has finally received a full-business license in the 4G age to sell services to both mobile and non-mobile clients.
With this new full-business license, China Mobile will be able to effectively enter the broadband market with low costs, which will bring pressure to its competitors China Telecom and China Unicom.
China Mobile has already started promoting its broadband strategy in China, while the convergence of fixed-line and mobile networks has become the development trend in the global telecom industry. With the issuance of the full-business license, China Mobile will enter the fixed-line communications sector, which is expected to further drive China's broadband development, accelerate the implementation of broadband strategy, and promote 4G network construction and business development in China. At the same time, it will help create a market environment with convergence development and full-business competition.