Deutsche Telekom, China Mobile Establish JV to Tap China's 68 Million Connected Cars by 2018

The number of connected cars in China is expected to reach 68 million by 2018, said China Mobile and Deutsche Telekom in a recent statement released in conjunction with the signing of a Connected Car cooperation agreement between both companies. At present, China Mobile is the world's largest mobile network operator with a market base of over 800 million subscribers while Deutsche Telekom, a global leader in telecommunications services boasts over 142 million mobile customers and presence in 50 countries worldwide.

The agreement comes at a time where global mobile network operators are forging new relationships between themselves to enable the rollout of connected car services which requires connectivity to all the vehicles of a particular model of an auto brand the operator signs up with regardless of the location of these vehicles. Hence, the delivery of both telematic services as well as in-vehicle infotainment services leverages a mobile network operator's ability to work with other major operators to provide this level of global coverage for their auto maker clients.

According to the joint statement by both companies, the agreement will see the creation of a joint venture company in which both companies will have a 50% stake each. The joint venture company which will start operating beginning next year will leverage 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, added the statement. It 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, said both companies.