Huawei Technologies leads Chinese telecommunication firms in hastening the development of 4G technology, which is 10 to 20 times faster than the current 3G network, Shanghai Daily learned at a Beijing telecom show which opened Tuesday. China Mobile, Huawei and China Putian are displaying the latest 4G or LTE (Long Term Evolution) products at the PT/EXPO Comm China 2012 in Beijing.

Huawei, China's biggest private telecom firm, now owns 9 percent of the patents on LTE technologies, ranking it No. 1 among domestic telecom companies.

"We invested heavily and finally we are in the first-tier patent group globally," said a Huawei official, who declined to be named, at its booth at the show which ends on Saturday.

Sweden's Ericsson owns 8 percent of LTE patents and Qualcomm, the world's leading telecom chip design maker, owns 13 percent, Huawei said.

China Mobile, the world's biggest telco by users, is building trial 4G networks nationwide in major cities including Shanghai, Hangzhou and Shenzhen.

At the show the telco displayed several LTE mobile products, including 4G data cards, and for the first time two LTE phones.

Although China hasn't issued LTE licences, handsets such as Apple's iPhone and Nokia's Lumia 920 support 4G and may debut in the domestic market at the beginning of 2013.