China Unicom bolstering 4G services with Wo 4G+

Details: James Barton; Category: Wireless Networks; 09 December 2015; 7950 views

China Unicom is augmenting its 4G offering with a new initiative called Wo 4G+.

The proposition aimed at providing “data communication services with faster speed and higher quality to fully upgrade customers’ experience anytime and anywhere”. The proposition’s remit covers networks, channels, products, terminals and operation, but beyond this little has been revealed about it.

“As a key support for ‘WO 4G+’, the Company will focus its resources to accelerate the 4G network construction with full strength and concurrently explore the expansion of co-building and sharing of infrastructure facilities to optimise resources allocation,” reads a statement from the operator. Rapidly extending and upgrading the quality of its coverage will allow Unicom to “establish a leading 4G premium network of the industry”.

The operator is China’s number two after China Mobile, but unlike the market leader Unicom has not disclosed its exact number of 4G subscribers – possibly because it is significantly trailing its main rivals, according to GSMA Intelligence. Unicom has an estimated 11 million 4G connections, while China Telecom and China Mobile have 44 million and 248 million respectively.

China Mobile’s adherence to TD-LTE technology rather than the more internationally used FDD strand has given it the edge on its domestic rivals, as it was able to deploy its chosen technology more quickly since it received regulatory favour. Meanwhile, Unicom and China Telecom both opted for FDD LTE, and are somewhat behind in their deployments.