TMCnet News
China Mobile to construct 110,000 WLAN hot spots this yearBEIJING, Jun 21, 2009 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- China Mobile (0941.HK; CHL.NYSE), the nation's leading telecom service provider, has launched bids for purchasing WLAN (wireless local area network) equipment, and plans to construct some 110,000 new WLAN hot spots this year, said an industrial insider. Currently, China Mobile has initiated its "TD-SCDMA+WLAN" strategy and offered WLAN service in China's airports and hotels. Service that China Telecom (0728. HK; CHA.NYSE) will provide is called "CDMA 1X+WiFi". The carrier schedules to launch bids for WLAN project in July, and the construction scale is said to be much larger than that of China Mobile. Chen Jiangwu, president of a WLAN equipment provider, revealed that since WLAN service was provided during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the WLAN constructions in some cities are of a certain scale. The growth of China's WLAN market this year is expected to be faster than 2008, considering telecom operators' scale construction of WLAN in 2009, and the driving force of the creation of "wireless cities" across the country. Chen believes that WLAN business is in accord with telecom operators' business expansion plans, while carriers' participation in WLAN market will offer new business opportunities to numerous communications equipment manufacturers. |