HONG KONG -- China Mobile Limited,SOFTBANK and Vodafone have agreed to establish a Joint Innovation Lab (JIL)to promote the development of new mobile technologies, applications andservices. The three companies expect the initiative will help to acceleratethe commercial deployment of mobile internet services.

The three companies will use the JIL as a platform to develop mobileservices and drive innovation and synergy in the industry to the benefit oftheir combined global customer base. The JIL will launch projects based onemerging technologies and market demand.

The JIL will focus on the rapidly growing areas of mobile internetservices, such as mobile widgets*. Initially, the JIL plans to develop aplatform for mobile widgets to encourage the development of innovative newservices that can leverage mobile operators' unique capabilities. The JILalso welcomes the co-operation of vendors and developers in the creation ofnew applications and services.

This move is expected to enable different widgets and applications torun seamlessly on different handset platforms and operating systems acrossdifferent mobile operators, while safeguarding customer security, dataprivacy and billing systems. The development of a widget platform isexpected to benefit both developers and users.

The establishment of the JIL and completion is subject to regulatoryapprovals and certain customary closing conditions.

China Mobile Ltd. (NYSE: CHL)