Ericsson, Datang Telecom Jointly Set Up 4G R&D Center in China
January 11, 2008
In continuation of the MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) signed last year by both parties, Swedish Ericsson and Chinese Datang Telecom announced on January 7 that they will jointly establish an R&D center, named Datang-Ericsson LTE (Long Term Evolution) Research Center, paving the way for the development of Chinese homegrown 4G standard.
According to Chinese-language China Business News, the R&D center, to be located on Datang Telecom's existing premises in Beijing, will focus on research on LTE/TDD (Time Division Duplex) technology, also known as 3.9G technology, a pre-4G mobile phone standard still under development. Financial details of this deal were not yet disclosed, though.
According to Sina Tech, the new facility is part of a cooperative agreement signed between China's Ministry of Science and Technology and the Swedish government in July 2007 to collaborate on developing 4G telecommunications technologies. Pursuant to the agreement, both parties agreed to each invest $30 million RMB (US$ 4.1 million; US$1 = 7.3 RMB) in supporting all related R&D institutes and enterprises engaged in like efforts. The project officially kicked off as of January 1, 2008, to be running for three years.