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Global TD-LTE Initiative to Hold First Taiwan Meeting in September

2014/09/01 | By Ken Liu

The Global TD-LTE Initiative (GTI) will hold its first Taiwan workshop in Hsinchu September 17-18, bringing executives from 37 4G service providers worldwide, including Softbank, Sprint, KT, and Vodafone, to meet Taiwan's equipment suppliers.

Kicked off in 2011 by Bharti Airtel, China Mobile, Clearwire, Softbank Mobile, and Vodafone, the organization has held conferences in Shanghai and Barcelona, aiming to promote 4G telecom service based on TD-LTE technology.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) and MOEA-regulated Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) will use this meeting to sway GTI and China's China Mobile Ltd. to help Taiwan's 4G-equipment operators such as vendors of chips, mobile phones, tablet PCs, and network connectivity gears drum up business among TD-LTE service providers in Europe, America, South Korea, Brazil, and Japan in addition to China.

The organization looks to create bigger business opportunity for equipment suppliers this year on ground that it is accelerating  mixing TD-LTE and LTE technologies.

Under such scenario, China Mobile plans to invest RMB74.9 billion (US$12.2 billion) by the end of this year in 4G network, increasing number of cell towers to 500,000, as well as having pledged to sell 100 million 4G phones and tablet PCs combined throughout this year.

As of this June, China Mobile had 790 million subscribers, including 13.94 million 4G subscribers, having promised to act as matchmaker for Taiwan's 4G equipment vendors and China's telecom service providers when Taiwan and China unveiled a 4G/5G innovation center. (KL)