Mainland aims for full 4G coverage
China aims to cover all its cities and rural areas with 4G networks by the end of 2018, a three-year development plan issued by Ministry of Industry and Information Technology showed yesterday.
The plan, named "Internet+," also set targets that the fiber optics should cover over 80 percent of villages and the internet speed in municipalities and major provincial capitals should reach 30 megabits per second.
China's three carriers, including smaller China Telecom (0728) and China Unicom (0762), announced plans last year to create China Tower, by pooling assets and reducing duplication as the country rolls out faster networks.
They reorganized the industry by merging US$36 billion (HK$280.8 billion) of network assets in China Tower two months earlier.
To achieve the new targets, MIIT listed seven actions to be taken in the coming three years.
They include speeding up the construction of telecoms infrastructure and setting up pilot cities fully covered with fiber broadband.
Source: The Standard