At the very beginning of Chinese New Year, China Telecom received a "red packet" from the MIIT, which allowed its use of 824-835 MHz/869-880 MHz and 1920-1940 MHz/2110-2130 MHz bands. These frequencies are used for land mobile services. The MIIT also required that band utilization must reach 80% or higher, regional coverage 60% or higher, and user bearing rate 60% or higher.
Although the 1M band seems meager, it has far-reaching implications for China Telecom. The 824-825 MHz band, which was earlier owned by the railway, was not available to China Telecom whenever signal interference occurred. With MIIT's allocation, China Telecom is now entitled to deliver services over this band.