China Unicom, which has long contended it would launch only FDD technology for its future LTE network, has softened its stance, saying it will begin testing TD-LTE.
Driving the operator's decision is the fact that the Chinese government is likely to allocate licenses late this year for the operation of TD-LTE before it issues licenses for LTE networks using FDD technology. Unicom did not release details regarding its planned TD-LTE trial.
"We just started this [planning for the TD-LTE trial] lately, so it's too early to be specific or to tell how much the investment will be," said Unicom Chairman Chang Xiaobing, who was quoted by Telecom Asia. He said the company still prefers FDD over TD-LTE.
Unicom is China's second-largest mobile operator by subscribers. The nation's largest mobile carrier, China Mobile, is a staunch proponent of TD-LTE and has already launched multiple trial networks.
For more:
- see this Telecom Asia article
- see this Telegeography article
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