China Mobile and Vodafone to co-operate further

China Mobile has stated it has signed a "strategic co-operation framework agreement" with Vodafone, without giving too much additional information. Vodafone currently owns a 3.2 per cent stake in China Mobile – but has spoken about disposing of the stake

According to the agreement, the two companies will continue their co-operation in areas including: exchange of corporate management, technical and operational expertise; enhanced roaming services; multinational customers; green technology; network roadmap management, joint innovation and R&D, and promotion of converged LTE technology, amongst other areas.

In 2008, China Mobile joined the LTE trials that were already being carried out by Vodafone and Verizon Wireless. A few months later, China Mobile, Japan’s Softbank and Vodafone also set up a Joint Innovation Lab (JIL) to promote the development of new mobile technologies, applications and services.