China's largest mobile carrier China Mobile has secured an additional 700MHz of 5G spectrum from authorities, the company announced Wednesday.
It will use it with TV broadcaster China Broadcasting Network (CBN), the telco said. CBN was chosen as a 5G operator last year along side the three local telcos by the Chinese government in June.
China Mobile and CBN and will split the cost of building the 700MHz bandwidth 5G network by a ratio of 1:1, with all wireless assets from the network to be jointly owned, the telco said.
700MHz is coveted by carriers as the lower frequencies travel longer distances and can pass through obstacles.
Ultra-high frequencies travel shorter distances and can’t pass through obstacles but have a higher data transfer rate.
With the allocation of the new spectrum, China Mobile will be able have more freedom on its 5G investment plans going forward.
The telco has currently commercialized 160MHz of if its 2.6GHz spectrum.
Besides the new spectrum, China Mobile will likely also co-invest in its 5G network that uses 4.9GHz spectrum that it already won, which CBN was also allocated by the government previously. Each has 100MHz of the spectrum.
China Mobile and CBN’s alliance will also counter those made by China Telecom and China Unicom last year in September. China’s second and third largest carriers has agreed to use their 5G networks together.
China Telecom uses 100MHz of its 3.5GHz spectrum. It offers 200MHz by grouping it with those offered by China Unicom’s 3.5GHz spectrum.
