Nokia, China Telecom enhance 4G coverage

NEW DELHI: Finland based telecom giant Nokia and China Telecom have signed an agreement to expand the deployment of 4G technology in 19 provinces in China, allowing China Telecom to enhance coverage and capacity as well as the quality of experience for subscribers, while paving the way toward the introduction of 5G technology.

By expanding the radio access network, China Telecom will meet growing subscriber demand with ubiquitous 4G coverage and faster access to the Internet and online content, as well as improve access in urban and suburban areas. The agreement with Nokia will also lay the foundation for China Telecom's intended launch of Voice over LTE (VoLTE) services in 2017.

China Telecom's subscriber and traffic growth has been growing rapidly: at the end of June the operator had nearly 207 million mobile subscribers, with 90 million users of 4G devices, an increase of more than 31 million during the first six months of 2016. Last year the company saw 4G traffic increase by more than six times, and it is predicted to account for more than 90 percent of mobile data traffic on the network by 2017.