China Mobile aims to reach 500 million 4G users in 2016

China Mobile, the world's largest telecom carrier by subscribers, said on Monday it aims to reach 500 million 4G users next year.

"We will build 300,000 new 4G base stations in 2016 so that we can offer better 4G networks to more consumers," said Li Huidi, Vice-President of China Mobile.

As of September, China Mobile has built over one million base stations and its 4G subscribers stand at 248 million.

According to Li, the Beijing-based company has sold over 256 million 4G smartphones in 2015 through its own retailing channels and partners and plans to sell 330 million 4G units in 2016.

"Selling smartphones is a quite important way for China Mobile to acquire 4G users. We will continue our efforts in this direction next year," Li added.

At a news conference, China Mobile also unveiled its first VoLTE-enabled gadget that boasts strong security functions by partnering with Huawei. But the company did not offer more details.

As of September, China Mobile has 823 million users in total, about 500 million of which are non-4G subscribers.