An industry rumor spreading online says that China Mobile (NYSE: CHL; 0941.HK) will launch large-scale outdoor testing of TD-LTE before the end of this year. A final list of testbed cities has not yet been confirmed; tests will initially be conducted in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Xiamen. Huawei, ZTE (0763.HK; 000063.SZ), Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell (ASB), Nokia-Siemens Networks, and Datang Telecom (600198.SH) will be among the equipment makers supplying equipment for the testing; the companies had also participated in previous small-scale outdoor tests of TD-LTE.

At present, only five companies – Samsung, Beijing-based CMMB and baseband chipset developer Innofidei, Qualcomm, Sequans, ST-Ericsson, and Altair – have produced TD-LTE data cards.

Keywords: supply contract, China Mobile, wireless, 000063.SZ, 0763.HK, 600198.SH, Datang Telecom, ZTE, ASB, CHL, TD-LTE, 0941.HK, 4G, Nokia Siemens Networks