Guangdong to prioritize 4G mobile networks

The creation of a fourth-generation mobile telecoms network will speed up the development of Guangdong province into a leading center for "smart" technologies and business, said Zou Sheng, deputy director of the Guangdong Economic and Information Commission, on Wednesday.

China's three telecom operators obtained licenses recently for 4G mobile telecom services, which provides faster data transfer speeds and lower prices for data traffic.

Guangdong, which is the largest provincial economy in the country, will promote 4G broadband applications with a view to improving performance and productivity.

The improvements will include upgrading manufacturing, public services and the management of government services, Zou said during a press conference. The electronic information industry of the province will receive a boost, he said.

All mobile phone brands operating in Guangdong will have launched 4G handsets in the first half of next year, said Qiu Wenhui, deputy general manager of China Mobile Group Guangdong Co.

China Mobile has invested about 20 billion yuan ($3.29 billion) in its Guangdong network every year for the past few years and will invest more than 100 billion yuan in the coming few years, he said.

China Telecom Guangdong Corp will focus its investment primarily on the 4G network this year and next year, said Yang Xiaofeng, vice-president of the company.

The electronic information manufacturing industry in Guangdong generated 1.89 trillion yuan in the first 10 months of this year, up 6.4 percent year-on-year, Zou said.

The software industry raked in 416.18 billion yuan in revenue during the same period, up 20.7 percent and accounting for 16.4 percent of the national total.

By the end of 2015, Wireless Local Area Networks will cover all public areas in the more developed Pearl River Delta area of Guangdong.

Information consumption in the province is expected to top 650 billion yuan this year and 900 billion yuan in 2015, Zou said.

Meanwhile, the Guangdong Communication Administration will continue to facilitate the co-construction and sharing of the telecom networks to avoid overlapping investment by telecom operators, said the administration's deputy director Zhai Xuemei.

More than 4 billion yuan of overlapping investment has been avoided in Guangdong since such efforts were initiated in 2008, she said.