Apple will reportedly support the China Mobile promoted fourth-generation cellular technology TD-LTE.
The telecom operator has been negotiating for years with Apple to develop an iPhone that runs on TD-SCDMA, the standard it is using for its 3G network.
A report by Chinese news portal Sina.com.cn cited China Mobile chairman Wang Jianzhou as saying China Mobile has not signed an agreement with Apple about the iPhone mainly because the phone doesn’t support TD-SCDMA.
Wang said that his company hoped that in next-generation development, Apple would consider TD-SCDMA into account as it did with CDMA.
Apple has recently announced a version of the iPhone that is compatible with CDMA.
"These two years we have been discussing the issue. Right now the situation is moving forward. Apple has made it clear they will support TD-LTE," Wang said.
At present, Apple’s iPhone is only available through China Unicom, which uses 3G technology.
China Mobile had 584 million mobile phone subscribers in December 2010 while China Unicom had 167.4 million. Number portability is not allowed in China.
