State-owned China Mobile Ltd. has signed a long-awaited deal with Apple Inc. to offer iPhones on its network. China Mobile is the country's largest mobile operator. 

Reuters, citing an earlier report by the Wall Street Journal, said the news came a day after China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued 4G licenses to telecom companies China Mobile, China Unicom Hong Kong Ltd. and China Telecom Corp.

China Mobile is one of the world's last major carriers that did not offer the iPhone. It has trailed behind its smaller rivals in attracting users to its home-grown 3G standard due to its poorer network service, the report said. 

According to Reuters, the rollout of iPhones is expected to start in mid-December. China Mobile is set to hold a conference in the southern city of Guangzhou on December 18.

China Mobile is the world's largest mobile carrier by users, with over 700 million subscribers. It has a total of CNY952.5 billion assets under management as of 2011 and generated a revenue of CNY527.9 billion during the same period, based on its financial report.