China has overtaken Europe by building hundreds of thousands of masts to carry superfast 4G mobile signals and western executives are warning that the country will pull further ahead with plans to more than double construction this year.

中国4G移动基站的建设已超过欧洲，该国正在建设数十万座承载超高速4G移动信号的基站。西方移动行业高管警告称，中国今年计划将基站建设扩大一倍以上，其领先优势将进一步扩大。

While the take-up of 4G services in China lags behind the rollout of base stations – given services only became commercially available last month – the scale of the infrastructure¹ building underlines the country’s ambitions for the future.

尽管中国4G服务的普及落后于基站部署（4G商用服务上月才开启），但4G基础设施的建设规模凸显出中国对未来的雄心。

China Mobile became the country’s first 4G operator in December last year and it built about 200,000 base stations before the launch. This is already more than are deployed² across all of Europe, according to analysts³ at HSBC and CCS Insight. China Mobile’s network covers as many as 500m people across the major cities on the country’s east coast.

中国移动(China Mobile)去年12月成为中国首家4G运营商。在推出4G服务前，中国移动建了约20万座基站。汇丰(HSBC)和CCS Insight的分析师表示，这个数量已超过全欧洲现有的基站数量。中国移动的网络覆盖了中国东部沿海主要城市，覆盖人口多达5亿人。

China Telecom and China Unicom are also building smaller 4G networks. Up to 1m 4G masts could be built in China by the end of 2014, according to equipment makers⁵.

中国电信(China Telecom)和中国联通(China Unicom)也在建设规模较小的4G网络。电信设备制造商们表示，到2014年底，中国可能建成多达100万座4G基站。

At last month’s annual Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, executives from European mobile operators expressed worries that the combination of regulatory constraints⁶ and sluggish⁷ economic growth would curtail⁸ construction of 4G networks in the continent.

在上月的年度巴塞罗那世界移动通信大会(Mobile World Congress)上，欧洲移动运营商的高管们称，他们担心监管限制和经济增长疲软会抑制欧洲4G网络的建设。

Also in Barcelona, Wei Zaisheng, finance director for ZTE, the Chinese state-owned equipment maker⁴, said that there could be as many as 1m 4G base stations in China by the end of the year, from close to 300,000 today, as groups “speeded up construction”. China represented about 60 per cent of the market for new 4G masts, he said. “China is leading 4G compared to Europe.”

中国国有电信设备制造商中兴通讯(ZTE)的财务总监韦在胜也出席了巴塞罗那的大会。他表示，随着运营商“加快建设速度”，到今年年底，中国4G基站数量可能会由目前的近30万座增至多达100万。他说，中国占新建4G基站市场的约六成，“领先于欧洲”。

Three industry executives said they were expecting a second tender from China Mobile for about 500,000 base stations this year. Equipment-maker executives predicted that China Telecom would order up to 250,000 masts this year.

三位业内高管表示，他们预计中国移动今年将展开第二轮招标，建设大约50万座基站。设备制造商的高管们预计，中国电信今年订购的基站将多达25万座。

Neelie Kroes, Europe’s digital commissioner⁹, has also emphasised the need to accelerate 4G rollout, and has recently shifted the focus to developing the next stage of mobile networks with so-called “5G” technology.

欧盟数字议程专员内莉•克勒斯(Neelie Kroes)也强调需要加快4G的部署，并在最近将关注点转向了开发下一代移动网络，即所谓的“5G”技术。

Only a third of Chinese households have broadband connections, say brokerage CLSA data.

券商里昂证券(CLSA)的数据显示，只有三分之一的中国家庭有宽带连接。