China Mobile Chairman’s Visit to Korea
The world’s biggest mobile carrier and seven hundred million user-retaining China Mobile met with Samsung to discuss plans for launching LTE-TDD, the latest 4G wireless communication technology.
Industry sources said Chairman Xi Guohua of China Mobile met with Samsung's Vice President Lee Jae-yong on December 5 to discuss the strengthening of their relationship in all areas of the mobile telephony and network businesses.
An industry source said, “Xi Guohua came to Korea to discuss cooperation with Korea in the areas of telecommunications. He met with KT, SK Telecom, and Samsung’s Lee Jae-yong to discuss the soon-to-be commercialized LTE-TDD business.”
Xi Guoha’s visit came at a time when China, the world’s biggest market for mobile telephony, has become a battleground for smartphone manufacturers. With a plan to commercialize LTE-TDD, the latest technology geared at 740 million subscribers, the world’s biggest smartphone manufacturers including Apple and Samsung have been licking their chops, trying to get a first bite of this luscious market.
As for China Mobile, the pressure is on to stabilize the LTE market. In order to do that, it must work with a competitive, reliable manufacturer. This meeting is expected to emphasize cooperation and erase doubts that have been raised about relationship between Samsung and China Mobile. Next month, China mobile will release the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c, which ten percent of China Mobile’s most affluent users are expected to buy.
Industry insiders are looking closely with interest as to whether or not Samsung Electronics can get their foot in the door for LTE-TDD devices. Last time Samsung participated in the trial run, but it failed to get past Chinese manufacturers Huawei and ZTE, coming home empty-handed.
Interestingly enough, Samsung has not made this meeting official. A Samsung source said, “At this time we are not aware of Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong's schedule.”