April 29, 2010 - Ericsson would deepen co-operation with Chinese rival Datang, giving the world's top network gear maker a better position in the growing TD-LTE field of mobile wireless.

TD-LTE technology, which incorporates LTE and time division (TD) technology like in WiMax, has recently won operator support in many large markets.

The world's largest mobile operator by subscribers, China Mobile will use TD-LTE for its next generation network. Russian operator Svyazinvest has picked TD-LTE, and Qualcomm is bidding in an Indian mobile broadband auction for TD-LTE spectrum. The new co-operation aims to combine Ericsson's leading position in mobile networks, plus experience in deploying LTE networks, with Datang's time division technology, the firms said.

As part of the agreement, Ericsson will start integrating Datang's radio network equipment using China's own 3G technology (TD-SCDMA) into its own 3G offering.

Datang owns many core patents in TD-SCDMA technology, which is expected to see seven-fold growth in subscriber numbers this year.

"We believe that our joining forces will drive the globalization of TD-SCDMA and play an important role in the industrialization of TD-LTE in the long run," Datang's Chief Technology Officer Chen Shanzhi said in a statement.