Under the agreement, the operators will also collaborate on a joint strategy for procurement of 4G devices that includes Mifi, smart phones, data cards, LTE consumer premise equipment (CPE) and Universal SIM (USIM).
The agreement was signed by China Mobile chairman Xi Guohua and Bharti Airtel founder and chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal.
"This partnership will provide a major platform for development and deployment of 4G and future mobile technology standards as both countries enter a phase of explosive data led growth,” said Mittal. “We are confident that the exchange of best practices and innovations will help in delivering affordable high speed mobile internet to the masses and contribute to the Indian government’s ‘Digital India’ vision.”
As founding members of the Global TD-LTE Initiative (GTI), both companies will work together on standards and products development as well as accelerate the commercialisation of TD-LTE and evolving 4.5G and 5G technologies.
