China's leading telecoms to invest 345 billion yuan on network upgrades

China's leading telecoms to invest 345 billion yuan on network upgradesAccording to the latest estimates, the three leading telecom service providers in China; China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom could invest a combined 345 billion yuan this year on upgrading their networks to offer faster and improved mobile services to the customers.

Chinese telecom operators will start giving contracts for upgrading their networks to the new 4G telephony standard this year allowing the companies to offer super-fast mobile services to the subscribers in the country. China is already the world's largest mobile market with 1.1 billion subscribers and the new wave of investment could spur more growth in the sector.

China's Huawei and its smaller Chinese rival ZTE are aggressively vying for contracts around the world. European equipment providers like Nokia-Siemens Networks, NSN and Alcatel-Lucent are struggling against the stiff competition from Chinese firms. Huawei already won most of the Europe's fourth generation mobile contracts and more contract wins in its home market could further push European players to the edges in the global mobile equipment market.

At present, Sweden's Ericsson is a leading player in the global mobile equipment market with a market share of 35 per cent, ahead of Huawei with 17 per cent, NSN with 15 per cent and Alcatel-Lucent with 12 per cent.