China allocates 2.6 GHz spectrum for LTE

China's state radio regulatory commission, part of the country's ministry of industry and information technology, said it has allocated the 2500-2690 (2.6GHz) spectrum for time-division LTE mobile broadband.

ITU Telecom World Dubai. Source: Global LTE-TDE Initative

The announcement was made at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Telecom World conference in Dubai by the commission's deputy director Xie Cun, according to the industry site Global TD-LTE Initiative.

Entire 190 MHz 2.6 GHz spectrum ranges have been allocated by the commission for TD-LTE.

Giant telco China Mobile will be the main user of 2.6 GHz TD-LTE spectrum.

China Mobile has around 672 million customers, and is currently trialling TD-LTE in three cities in the country, to be expanded to 13 cities by the end of 2012, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Nokia-Siemens Networks is the main technology supplier for China Mobile's TD-LTE deployment.

In 2013, China Mobile will expand its network to 100 cities, and over 200,000 base stations.

Apart from NSN, China Mobile is also working with Huawei Technologies, Ericsson, New Postcom Equipment Co and Datang Mobile for the TD-LTE network.

The TD-LTE network is a replacement for the earlier time-division synchronous code division multiple access or TD-SCDMA 3G one launched in trial form in 2008.

It provides higher downstream speeds of up to 100 Mbps as well as lowered latency, while being designed to fully support the Internet Protocol.