China Mobile and Deutsche Telekom establish a Joint Venture in the field of Connected Cars

Board members of China Mobile, the world’s largest mobile telecommunication company, and Deutsche Telekom, one of the world’s leading integrated telecommunications companies, signed a Connected Car cooperation agreement on the occasion of the state visit of Chinese prime minister Li Keqiang in Berlin.

Under the agreement, a joint venture will be established in China in which each partner holds a 50-percent stake.

According to China Mobile, establishing Connected Car with Deutsche Telekom to take full advantage of China Mobile’s domestic advantages in network, customer and service resources. Deutsche Telekom’s Connected Car platform and operation experience as well as European branded vendors’ operation practice can further extend the capacity for providing Connected Car and telematics services to the market and create a new development opportunity.

Reinhard Clemens, Board Member of Deutsche Telekom, says: “Connected Car is a strategic initiative within Deutsche Telekom Group, while China is of strategic importance for our Connected Car business. The partnership with China Mobile is therefore strategically of utmost importance to Deutsche Telekom.”

Based on Deutsche Telekom’s mature Connected Car platform technology and China Mobile’s high quality network resources as well as the local business development and operation experiences, the joint venture company will conduct localized development, provide hardware, Connected Car cloud platform, system integration and operation, as well as content service to the vehicle line-fit and retro-fit markets. The joint venture’s objective is to provide 4G-based vehicle information services and comfortable, convenient and safe driving experience to drivers in the Chinese Connected Car market, thus becoming a leading telematics service provider. The joint venture company will start operating beginning of 2015.

With the rapid development of the Chinese automobile market, the car parc in China’s automotive market reached 137 million units in 2013, and consumers have constantly raised their expectations on vehicle safety and comfort, laying a solid foundation for Connected Car development. Experts say that in 2018 there will be about 68 million connected cars in China. With the development of the domestic mobile internet, various human-machine applications will create a broader prospect for Connected Car application.

About China Mobile

China Mobile has the largest mobile network and subscriber base in the world, with an international competitive advantage as well as high market and brand value. It has over 1.3 million base stations covering 99 percent of national population, and over 800 million subscribers as of December 2013. China Mobile provides domestic and international mobile communications services (including mobile telephony, data multimedia services) and relevant services such as system integration, roaming calculation, R&D and technical services; Internet access services; IP telephony, and other telecom and information services. In 2013 it generated operating revenue of RMB 630 billion.

About Deutsche Telekom

Deutsche Telekom is one of the world’s leading integrated telecommunications companies with over 142 million mobile customers, 31 million fixed-network lines and more than 17 million broadband lines (as of December 31, 2013). The Group provides fixed network, mobile communications, Internet and IPTV products and services for consumers and ICT solutions for business customers and corporate customers. Deutsche Telekom is present in around 50 countries and has approximately 229,000 employees worldwide. The Group generated revenues of EUR 60,1 billion in the 2013 financial year – more than half of it outside Germany.