14 DAY TRIAL // China Mobile, the largest carrier in the Mainland, plans to enter the Windows Phone market. The operator failed to pick some of the most popular smartphones available on the market, including the iPhone.
The reason behind such a failure is the fact that China Mobile owns a TD-SCDMA network, which is a Chinese-specific 3G technology. All handsets launched by the carrier need to be specifically built for its network, otherwise they won’t work.
However, it appears that China Mobile plans to launch its own 4G LTE network in the Mainland, though this has yet to be confirmed by the carrier.
We’re not sure exactly when China Mobile launches 4G services over its network, but rumor has that the company plans to start offering Windows Phone 8 devices next year.
According to WPDang, citing sources close to the matter, China Mobile is expected to strike a deal with one of the three handset makers that officially confirmed they would launch Windows Phone 8 devices as early as late 2012, Nokia, ZTE and Huawei.
Even though there’s no telling which brand China Mobile will choose, the latest hearsay claims the carrier will purchase two Windows Phone 8 handsets and offer them to its customers next year.
Both smartphones will be LTE-enabled and especially built to work on the carrier’s TD-LTE network, which has yet to be launched.
China Mobile might continue to offer other Windows Phone 8 models in case these two will prove to be popular among customers. It’s also possible that the operator will choose a second brand to build more Windows Phone devices for its special TD-LTE network.
The other two major carriers in the country, China Unicom and China Telecom, are likely to offer Windows Phone 8 devices as well, so it will be interesting which one will offer better deals. Stay tuned for more updates on the matter.