Telecom carriers push for all-network access phones

China Unicom and China Telecom, two of China's largest telecom carriers, have joined forces to step up the push for more smartphones that can support six different network technologies.

In a move to catch up with market leader China Mobile, the two companies will campaign for phones to be able to operate on any network including GSM, CDMA, TD-SCDMA, WCDMA, TD-LTE and FDD-LTE.

"We aim to increase sales," China Unicom marketing manager Wen Ningrui said. "By the end of 2017, the sales volume for such smartphones will account for more than 85 percent of the total amount in the Chinese market."

Since 2015, China Unicom and China Telecom have teamed up to ask smartphone vendors to make more devices that can support all the different network technologies. In April, 2016, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology officially made the six-mode smartphone with all-network access the national standard.

Wen Ku, director of the telecom development department in the IT ministry, said the promotion of smartphones that can support all technologies will benefit both users and carriers

"With the popularity of smartphones, it is more convenient for users to choose qualified services. They will no longer have to worry about whether their devices can support the technology used by a specific carrier. And it will also create a better competition environment for carriers. Thus they can focus more on innovation and providing better services."

The two firms will generate a unified logo for the six-mode smartphones with all network access over all channels.

Under the partnership, the two firms will also campaign for smartphones with all-network access to be the international standard, with the addition of 4G-plus, VoLTE and other new technologies，Wang Guoquan, marketing manger at China Telecom, said.

Wang said the two firms will also open more sales outlets for the smartphone and work closely with vendors and chipmakers to produce a series of related products.

Smartphones that can support all technologies now dominate the market in China at 75 percent in February, up from 20 percent in 2015.

On March 6, the three major Chinese telecom carriers announced that they would scrap domestic long-distance and roaming charges starting in October, aiming to seek new growth sources, such as cloud computing and big data.