It becomes the second Chinese operator to offer the new service

China Telecom Corp Ltd, the third-largest telecom carrier of the country, officially began the commercial rollout of its fourth-generation mobile network in the domestic market on Friday, competing with its leading rival China Mobile Ltd in the early stages of a new business sector.

China Telecom leaped ahead of China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd to become the nation's second telecom operator to offer 4G services. It plans to start 4G businesses in close to 100 cities across the country but only for wireless network cards rather than handsets.