China Unicom has reportedly secured approval to conduct network trials of FDD LTE technology over the 900-MHz band.
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has cleared the operator to conduct the trials in 14 provinces, including Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui, c114reported.
Success in the trials will allow China Unicom to augment its dual-mode TDD/FDD LTE network.
The MIIT has also recently approved China Telecom's application to operate 4G on the 800-MHz band, the report adds.
China Unicom and China Telecom were finally granted commercial FDD LTE licenses in March last yearfollowing years of wide-scale FDD-TDD trials.
Meanwhile China Unicom has also announcedit will start testing 400G optical network technology in preparation for the next evolution of backbone networks.
The operator will combine standard optical fiber with the new G.654 fiber to assess the practical performance of the new fiber technology. Trials are due to commence in the second half of the year.