4G licenses will be issued by year's end: Minister

The government is set to issue licenses for fourth generation (4G) mobile network operations by year's end, the Minister of Industry and Information Technology said.

Miao Wei, minister of MIIT, revealed the timetable on Tuesday during the 2013 Beijing International Communications Exhibition. He told reporters that the government decided to hand out 4G licenses before Dec 31.

Premier Li Keqiang said in July at an executive meeting of the State Council that China will speed up work to issue the licenses.

The country's three telecom operators - China Mobile, China Unicom (Hong Kong) and China Telecom, have undertaken preparations for the 4G network.

China Mobile, the nation's largest telecom carrier, is actively promoting thee homegrown TD-LTE 4G technology. The operator aims to build up 200,000 4G stations, forming a TD-LTE network that covers more than 500 million people this year.