China is expected to award 4G licences later this year, paving the way for the launch of high-speed mobile data services in the country.

While China has made “breakthroughs in R&D of 4G technologies”, Miao Wei, minister of industry and information technology, noted that operators are “still facing restrictions in commercial use”.

According to Xinhau, the politician said that the authorities will put policies in place to support the development of 4G “at an appropriate time to guide the construction and development of the 4G network”.

The Financial Times said that licensing had been expected in 2014, which would have put China behind many international markets where 4G (LTE) is already being deployed.

China Mobile, the biggest operator in the country, has for some time been conducting a trial of TD-LTE technology, and is planning this year for it to be the largest LTE network in the world.

With the company recently unveiling a raft of devices from vendors including LG, HTC, Huawei and ZTE, as well as own-brand data products, it has also committed to support the development of terminals supporting its network.