China Mobile Expands Cooperation With Taiwanese Suppliers on 4G Biz

Taipei, Dec. 30, 2010 (CENS)--With a TD-LTE (time division long term evolution) testing lab jointly established by Taiwanese end-user instruments makers in China becoming operational, China Mobile, one of China's big three telecom service providers, will move to expand its cooperation with them on 4G business in the country soon.

Yvonne Li, president of Taiwan's Far Eastone Telecommunications Co., Ltd., one of founders of the TD-LTE testing lab, has confirmed that several Taiwanese handset makers, including High Tech Computer (HTC) Corp. and Asustek Computer Inc., have sent their smartphones to the lab for testing, which will be adopted by China Mobile for launch in China in 2011 at the earliest.

Also, Taiwan-based MediaTek Inc., a globally leading handset IC designer, is expected to count on the lab to accelerate development of its chipsets for TD-LTE phones, industry insiders noted.

Through the testing lab, Li stressed that Taiwanese firms relative to 4G communications can tap China Mobile's supply chain of 4G phones more easily in the future than before. In short, the lab will also help step up cooperation between the Chinese telecom service provider and Taiwanese manufacturers.

Li also indicated that his firm has moved to expand collaboration with China Mobile on value-added mobile services, with the former's application software and e-book readers already available on the latter's online shopping store. Prospectively, said, the cooperation will open the door wider to China's e-book reader market for other Taiwanese firms in the future.

So far, China Mobile has decided to set up over 3000 TD-LTE base stations in six metropolises, such as Beijing and Shanghai, in China, and, to counter underdevelopment of related 4G phones, has planned to rely on Taiwanese suppliers' cutting-edge product R&D capability to boost promotion of the 4G services.