STOCKHOLM -- Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) and China Mobile Communication Co., Ltd. (China Mobile) signed a strategic agreement to cooperate on the Internet of Things at the China Mobile Global Partner Conference in Guangzhou, China, on December 20, 2016.

The two companies aim to start in-depth cooperation to manage connections efficiently, provide a consistent service to global enterprise customers and to explore new Internet of Things markets. China Mobile will use the Ericsson Device Connectivity Platform to streamline the process for provisioning, as well as deploy services to capitalize on new business opportunities. With the Ericsson platform, China Mobile will be able to integrate resources of roaming partners and offer global enterprise customers reliable connectivity based on service level agreements. Other benefits include a common and unified approach to customer portals and selection of access network.

Yuejia Sha, Executive Vice President, China Mobile, says: "China Mobile expects to have 200 million IoT connections by 2017. We stick to the strategy of open cooperation with our partners for win-win results. China Mobile strengthens the collaboration with global leading enterprises of advanced platform, application and intelligent hardware to drive the rapid development of our industry, and provides superior applications and services to our customers."

Chris Houghton, Head of Region North East Asia, Ericsson, says: "We are very proud to be selected by China Mobile as a strategic partner for Internet of Things. These types of applications will also help promote the development and deployment of 5G technology. We look forward to supporting China Mobile and developing this business while accelerating large-scale deployments of Internet of Things across the world."

The Ericsson Device Connection Platform was launched in 2008. It is used by more than 24 operators and supports 1,700 industry customers. Ericsson also works together with the Bridge Alliance and the Global M2M Association to realize the vision of a seamless customer experience with worldwide coverage and superior quality of service for Internet of Things applications.

Ericsson AB (Nasdaq: ERIC)