(WANG QIMING)

Visitors observe the fourth generation (4G) telecom booth at the Ninth China (Nanjing) International Software Product and Information Service Expo, held in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province.

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) on December 4 issued 4G licenses to three Chinese telecom operators, marking the beginning of a new era in China's high-speed mobile network.

China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom received permits to offer 4G mobile network services employing homegrown technology--TD-LTE, or Time-Division Long-Term Evolution.