Bharti

Airtel announces strategic collaboration with China Mobile

To jointly foster the growth of 4G LTE ecosystem
Promote development of affordable LTE devices

• ● Both companies to share network and product best practices, and technical learnings
• ● Work together for standards and products to accelerate commercialisation of LTE and evolving 4.5G / 5G technologies
• ● Develop standards and strengthen testing for inter-operability of LTE roaming, VoLTE, etc.

Barcelona / New Delhi, March 3, 2015: Bharti Airtel Limited (“Airtel”), India’s largest telecom services provider, today announced a strategic collaboration with China Mobile under which the two companies will work towards the growth of the LTE ecosystem and evolving mobile technology standards. Airtel and China Mobile will also work towards shaping up a joint strategy for procurement of devices that include Mifi, smart phones, data cards, LTE CPEs and USIM.

The strategic collaboration aims to bring together the largest mobile operators from the world’s two largest mobile markets – China and India. China Mobile and Airtel are also among the founding members of the Global TD-LTE initiative. An MoU was signed by Mr. Xi Guohua, Chairman, China Mobile, and Mr. Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman, Bharti Airtel.

With both China and India on the cusp of large scale roll-out of high speed 4G data services, China Mobile and Airtel plan to share relevant network as well as product knowledge (specifically for new technologies like 4G), best practices and technical learnings to enable delivery of world-class affordable services to customers. Airtel and China Mobile will also work together for development of relevant technical standards and inter-operability testing.

Additionally, as founders of Global TD-LTE Initiative (GTI), China Mobile and Airtel will cooperate on standards and products development, and promoting a robust ecosystem to accelerate the commercialization of TD-LTE and evolving 4.5G/ 5G technologies.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Sunil Bharti Mittal said, “We are delighted to announce this landmark agreement with China Mobile. India and China account for nearly third of all the mobile subscribers globally and this partnership will provide a major platform for development and deployment of 4G and future mobile technology standards as both countries enter a phase of explosive data led growth. We are confident that the exchange of best practices and innovations will help in delivering affordable high speed mobile internet to the masses and contribute to the Indian Government’s ‘Digital India’ vision.”

Both companies will work together for understanding and sharing testing and validation practices (including network equipment, features and new releases etc.) and also jointly conduct proof of concepts as well as trials. China Mobile and Airtel will also aim to bring in cost efficiencies by driving synergies in their procurement strategies, among other collaborative efforts included in this MoU agreement.

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About Airtel

Bharti Airtel Limited is a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa. Headquartered in New Delhi, India, the company ranks amongst the top 4 mobile service providers globally in terms of subscribers. In India, the company's product offerings include 2G, 3G and 4G wireless services, mobile commerce, fixed line services, high speed DSL broadband, IPTV, DTH, enterprise services including national & international long distance services to carriers. In the rest of the geographies, it offers 2G, 3G wireless services and mobile commerce. Bharti Airtel had over 312 million customers across its operations at the end of December 2014. To know more please visit, www.airtel.com

About China Mobile

China Mobile Limited (the "Company", and together with its subsidiaries, the "Group") was incorporated in Hong Kong on 3 September 1997. The Company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE") and The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited ("HKEx" or the "Stock Exchange") on 22 October 1997 and 23 October 1997, respectively. The Company was admitted as a constituent stock of the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong on 27 January 1998.

As the leading mobile services provider in Mainland China, the Group boasts the world's largest mobile network and the world's largest mobile customer base. The Company has been listed in Fortune Global 500 list for 14 consecutive years, ranking the 55th in 2014 and the 15th in BRANDZ 2014 ranking. The Company currently has a corporate credit rating of Aa3/Outlook Stable from Moody's Investor Service and AA-/Outlook Stable from Standard & Poor's, equivalent to China's sovereign credit rating, respectively