BEIJING - China Mobile Communications Co said on Monday that the country's top telecom regulator has approved five telecommunication equipment makers to begin construction of the fourth-generation (4G) network.

China Mobile, the world's largest telecom carrier by subscriber numbers, obtained approval from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) in December to conduct a commercial trial of the homegrown 4G network TD-LTE (Time Division-Long Term Evolution) in seven major Chinese cities. TD-LTE equipment providers have also been given the green light to provide equipment for the trial.

Xinhua News Agency said the first approved cities to host the trial network will be Shanghai, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Nanjing and Shenzhen.