BARCELONA - Chinese telecommunication giant China Mobile on Tuesday unveiled its plan to deploy TD-LTE, a 4G mobile telecommunication technology, across its home country at the Mobile World Congress held here in Barcelona.

China Mobile President Li Yu announced that over 20,000 TD-LTE base stations would be in operation by the end of this year, and that the number would increase tenfold by the end of 2013.

"We are ready for large scale deployment with commercial services becoming available in 2013. The first TD-LTE installations will start during the second half of this year and they will see some of the existing TD-SCDMA sites being upgrades to TD-LTE," Li said.

The Mobile World Congress brings together 1,400 exhibitors and 60,000 industry professionals together in a four-day event which is the focal points for the industry over the next 12 months.

The event has a major impact on the city's economy with 22,000 extra hotel bookings and guests paying an average of 66 euros each night, in addition to businesses for restaurants and taxi services.