Nov 15 (Bloomberg) -- China Mobile Communications Corp, the world’s largest carrier by subscribers, said it will complete the next phase of its fourth-generation network trials by June as it tries to lure device makers including Apple Inc.

The company finished first-phase trials of the TD-LTE system in six cities with 850 base stations in September, Li Zhengmao, an executive vice president at China Mobile Communications, said at a press conference in Hong Kong today. The trials featured seven network vendors including Huawei Technologies Co., ZTE Corp. and Alcatel-Lucent.

China Mobile Communications, which uses a homegrown third- generation network standard that doesn’t support many popular devices including Apple’s iPhone, aims to shift to a 4G technology next year that would have broader support from international handset makers. China Mobile and Clearwire Corp. said in September they would cooperate to promote high-volume commercial production of chipsets and devices for the system.

"With the popularity of mobile Internet and smart devices, data use is increasing at an explosive speed," Li said. "The need to speed up commercialization of LTE is compelling."

The TD-LTE system China Mobile and Clearwire are adopting for fourth-generation mobile networks provides users with faster Internet connections than current 3G systems for downloading videos and games on their phones.

The next trial phase will include "large scale commercial" use, and will also feature a network demonstration setup on Beijing’s main Chang An Street and in the city’s financial district, Bill Huang, general manager of China Mobile’s Research Institute, said today.