China Mobile has entered a joint TD-LTE R&D agreement, and revealed it tapped NSN to deploy part of its trial network using the homegrown 4G standard.
The operator's R&D division, China Mobile Research Institute, has signed a MoU with Rohde & Schwarz to collaborate on the development of TD-LTE testing tools and systems, AsiaNetreported.
A stated goal of the co-operation is to speed up global deployment of TD-LTE.
NSN meanwhile announced it has been operating TD-LTE test networks in two of the six cities where China Mobile has been trialling the technology since May.
The core network has been tested, and NSN has now moved on to radio access. The vendor is also working with the ICT ministry on TD-LTE device testing, and said it will introduce devices into the trial network once the preliminary tests are complete.
China Mobile hopes to commercially launch TD-LTE in 2012, but the communications ministry in March stated it doesn't expect significant LTE rollouts until 2014.