China's 4G users top 50 million

China Mobile's 4G experience center in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province.[Photo/China Daily]

BEIJING -- China Mobile, China's largest telecom service provider, said on Friday that it had passed its annual target and had more than 50 million fourth-generation (4G) clients as of the end of October.

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The company said it had built 570,000 4G-base stations since the Industry and Information Technology Ministry issued a 4G license to the firm, as well as two other competitors -- China Telecom and China Unicom, on Dec. 4 last year.

The license allows the three operators to offer 4G mobile network services that use homegrown Time-Division Long-Term Evolution (TD-LTE) technology.

TD-LTE is one of two major international standards in mobile telecommunication technology.

China Mobile said that its 4G base stations already covered over 300 Chinese cities, or 75 percent of the Chinese population.

The company said that the fast increase in 4G clients was due to a drop in charge rates on 4G packages and promotion of 4G smart phones.