With China Mobile Communication Corp., a top-three telecom service provider in China, heavily promoting the homegrown 4G communication technology TD-LTE (time division long term evolution) worldwide, Taiwanese hardware suppliers will likely land increasing orders from the Chinese customer.

At the ITU (International Telecommunication Union) Telecom World 2011, China Mobile president Wang Jianzhou unveiled the world’s first dual-mode (3G and 4G) TD-LTE-enabled smartphone, which is developed jointly by the company and Taiwan’s communication chip designer MediaTek Inc., heralding his company’s global promotion of TD-based 4G technology.

To promote TD-LTE devices, Wang said that China Mobile will enhance cooperation with Taiwanese hardware partners, including HTC Corp., Foxconn Technology Group and MediaTek.

Besides the dual-mode phone that Wang said will be mass produced next year, a couple of TD-LTE-enabled devices jointly developed by China Mobile and Taiwanese companies were also debuted at ITU Telecom World 2011, including a tablet PC from Acer Inc. and a dongle and signal converter from Quanta Computer Inc.

Citing India and Japan, Wang stressed that TD-LTE is increasingly emerging globally, with 33 telecom service providers already onboard, which will offer Taiwanese hardware manufacturers huge business opportunities in the short term.

Wang confirmed China Mobile will purchase over 35 million units of end-user devices, including 17 million smartphones and 1 million tablet PCs, this year, with the volume to rise in the coming years and a large portion to be bought from Taiwan.

China Mobile has over 630 million registered users, with the number steadily increasing by around 60 million each of the past few years.