CHINA Mobile Communications Corp, the world's largest carrier by subscribers, yesterday said it will complete the next phase of its fourth-generation network trials by June as it tries to lure device makers, including Apple Inc.

The company finished first phase trials of the TD-LTE system in six cities with 850 base stations in September, Li Zhengmao, an executive vice president at the telco, said at a press conference in Hong Kong yesterday. The trials featured seven network vendors, including Huawei Technologies Co, ZTE Corp and Alcatel-Lucent.

The telco, which uses a homegrown third-generation network standard that doesn't support many popular devices, aims to shift to a 4G technology next year that would have broader support from international handset makers. China Mobile and Clearwire Corp said in September that they would cooperate to promote high-volume commercial production of chipsets and devices for the system.

"With the popularity of mobile Internet and smart devices, data use is increasing at an explosive speed," Li said. "The need to speed up commercialization of LTE is compelling."

The TD-LTE system China Mobile and Clearwire are adopting for 4G mobile networks provides users with faster Internet connections than the 3G systems for downloading videos and games on their phones.

The next trial phase will include "large scale" commercial use and will also feature a network demonstration setup in Beijing and in its financial district, Bill Huang, general manager of China Mobile's Research Institute, said yesterday.