Country set to lead telecoms revolution

Latest technology will change lives and work for people, says official

China is expected to become the world's biggest Long Term Evolution (LTE) fourth-generation market in the near future, even though the country is still waiting for final approval from the government regarding the issuing of 4G licenses.

The country is about to embrace a critical phase for developing its LTE industry, said Wen Ku, director of the department of science and technology at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, at an LTE forum held in Beijing on Monday.

According to the vision from the Strategy and Implementation Plan of Broadband China, China's penetration rate of 3G/LTE users will reach 85 percent - totaling 1.2 billion users by 2020. At that time, the nation's LTE network will basically cover both urban and rural areas.

"Developing LTE has become a trend worldwide and the Chinese government is handing out full support for it," Wen said.

Premier Li Keqiang said in an executive meeting of the State Council, the country's cabinet, in July that China will speed up work to issue licenses for the 4G mobile network this year.

Paul Jacobs, chairman and chief executive officer of mobile chipset maker Qualcomm Inc, expected China to become the world's largest LTE market in less than five years as soon as the country's regulator grants licenses for telecom operators.

"The progress could move quite fast since China has already been the biggest smartphone market globally," Jacobs said in an interview with China Daily during the forum.

The entry of the LTE era will introduce a significant change in Chinese society and customers will get the most benefits from the process, Jacobs said.

"The LTE technology is likely to change how people work, transform the healthcare sector and enable new ways for people to learn," Jacobs said.