China Mobile Launches First TD-LTE Terminal Procurement This Year, Totaling 206,500 Units
Morning news on May 15 (Liu Dingzhou) China Mobile will soon launch its first TD-LTE terminal/module procurement in 2013, with a total procurement volume of 206,500 units. Among these, TD-LTE phones account for only 5,000 units, a very small proportion of the total procurement volume.
In addition, according to China Mobile's requirements, all vendors participating in the procurement, including those supplying TD-LTE phones, must have the capacity to deliver the full procurement volume by the end of July. Compared with the first TD-LTE terminal tender in 2012, this procurement places significantly higher demands on vendors' delivery capabilities.
Procurement Volume Continues to Grow
At China Mobile's annual results conference this year, Chairman Xi Guohua stated that the state encourages independent innovation technologies, and the government fully supports TD-LTE as a new-generation wireless broadband technology. Its industrialization, commercialization, and internationalization are accelerating, which will present development opportunities for China Mobile.
With China Mobile accelerating its TD-LTE development pace, terminal procurement volumes have increased compared with original plans. Earlier reports indicated that China Mobile planned to procure 160,000 TD-LTE terminals in its first procurement this year, including approximately 30,000 MiFi units and 100,000 CPE units, with the tender expected to launch in late April.
However, one month later, the final announced volume exceeded the original plan, reaching 206,500 units. The procured terminal equipment includes MiFi, data cards, CPE, TD-LTE phones, and modules, specifically comprising approximately 150,000 MiFi units, 30,000 data cards, 20,000 CPE units, and 6,500 phone terminals (including 1,500 phone modules).
China Mobile's first TD-LTE terminal procurement last year also exceeded plans, increasing from the initially disclosed 10,000 units to 29,000 units. The procurement plan released in November was 34,700 units, which grew to nearly 70,000 units by December, with the final figure reaching 77,000 units, significantly exceeding expectations. This year's terminal procurement volume may continue to grow beyond the original plan. This is positive news for the entire TD-LTE industry chain.
TD-LTE Phones Not Yet at Scale
In this procurement, MiFi and CPE equipment remain the absolute mainstay, accounting for 83% of the total. The proportion of data cards is on the rise, yet the final procurement volume for TD-LTE phones is only 5,000 units.
China Mobile's initially disclosed information showed that the total planned procurement of TD-LTE terminals this year was 1.24 million units, of which 90% were MiFi and CPE, with the remaining 10% being data cards. TD-LTE phones were "not included in the procurement volume" due to technology not yet being mature.
Earlier reports suggested that 10,000 TD-LTE phones would be procured this time, but the final volume was reduced to 5,000 units. This change in numbers reflects that TD-LTE phones are still not mature and have not yet met China Mobile's expectations.
At the MWC (Mobile World Congress) in February this year, China Mobile had already unveiled four TD-LTE-enabled smartphones, including the Huawei Ascend D2-TL, HTC One TD101, LG Optimus Vu 2 Plus, and ZTE U9810. It is understood that Coolpad also launched the Coolpad 8920, a TD-LTE smartphone supporting five modes and thirteen frequency bands, in April.
According to some experts, to meet the performance, power consumption, and cost requirements for large-scale TD-LTE commercial deployment, mainstream TD-LTE phone chip processes need to reach 28nm, which will not truly mature until 2014. Therefore, overall, the maturity of TD-LTE smartphones will still take some time, and the specific procurement volume for China Mobile this year will depend on the overall maturity of the technology.
According to China Mobile's plan, by 2014, China Mobile will have 350,000 TD-LTE base stations and will simultaneously launch 15 commercial-grade multi-mode data terminals and 3 TD-LTE phones.