UK-based telecom operator Vodafone recently announced that the company sold its 3.2% stake in China Mobile for 4.3 billion Pound (US$6.6 billion; US$1 = 0.65 Pound), the Financial Times reported on September 7. Despite its sake sale in China, Vodafone stated that the company will continue the collaboration with China Mobile in commercial and technology segments. Vodafone initially acquired a 2.18% stake in China Mobile in 2000 and increased the stake to 3.2% in 2003. According to Dow Jones, the establishment of a homegrown, government-based standard for mobile communications, dubbed TD-SCDMA (Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access), may have caused Vodafone's exit from China Mobile as TD-SCDMA standard cannot be used outside of China, which had significantly limited incremental benefits from joint development. Meanwhile, Korean telecom operator SK Telecom also sold its entire 3.8% stake in China Unicom in 2009, claiming that the company had not achieved planned goals, and another telecom operator Spanish Telefonica stated that the company will increase its stake in China Unicom from 8.4% to 10% at some point in 2010, according again to Financial Times.