Telecom firms establish base station JV

The nation's top three telecom carriers - China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom - on Friday signed an agreement to set up a joint venture to deploy base station network infrastructure in China.

The long-awaited "iron tower company" is expected to add further momentum for construction projects related to fourth-generation telecom base stations.

The JV, China Telecommunications Equipment Service Co Ltd, will handle all the base station construction, operation and maintenance works in the country and marks a departure from the earlier practice of separate base stations for each telecom company. The earlier practice had led to disputes in some places as the carriers selected the same location for the communications towers.