According to the informed sources, after the obtaining the TD-LTE license and integration of networking in 16 cities, China Unicom plans to build 100,000 4G base stations by the end of the year, but the proportion of FDD base stations is still unclear.
As reported, by the end of June, China Unicom has built 10,227 new 3G base stations. In addition, it has also built 5,773 new TD-LTE base stations in 1H2014, covering 56 key cities, and actively promoted the TDD/FDD trial integration of networking in 16 cities.
In this way, China Unicom’s 3G and 4G base stations has reached 491,000 in the first half of the year, with a plan to add 60,000 more 3G base stations by the end of the year, and another 100,000 4G base stations at the same time, covering more than 300 cities.
Take China Unicom Shanghai branch for example, it completed the 4G basic full coverage of the urban regions in Shanghai by the end of June in 2014, with more than 4,000 4G base stations opened at present. It is predicted that there will be over 6,000 4G base stations by the end of the year, effectively covering more than 80% of the population.