China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) officially issued 4G TD-LTE (Time Division Long-Term Evolution) licenses to China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom on December 4, as reported by the Shanghai Securities News. The issuance is expected to speed up the industry's development, from network equipment procurement to mobile phone replacement demand and commercial software improvement. MIIT and the Chinese Academy of Sciences estimate that the initial 4G investments will amount to $500 billion RMB (US$82.1 billion; US$1=$6.09 RMB), with additional 500 billion RMB to be anticipated after commercial services are launched. As China aims to develop both TD-LTE and FDD-LTE (Frequency Division Duplex LTE) technologies, MIIT will issue FDD-LTE licenses in the right timing, said the report.