Top Chinese telco joins Linux Foundation

Sam Varghese
Wednesday, 03 November 2010 08:30

Business IT - Open Source

Top Chinese telecommunications company, China Mobile Communications Corporation , has joined the Linux Foundation as a gold member, a media release from the latter says.

The Foundation is a non-profit dedicated to fostering the growth of Linux, and sponsors the work of its creator, Linus Benedict Torvalds.

CMCC, a majority shareholder of China Mobile, thus becomes the first Chinese company to join the Foundation. There are three kinds of members - platinum, gold, and silver.

"China Mobile is the world's largest telecom operator by market value. It also ranks as the largest carrier in the world in terms of customer base and the scale of its network, through which it provides mobile services including voice data, IP telephony and multimedia," the release said.

Many big Chinese internet companies - Sina, Shanda, Baidu, Taobao, Netease, and others - use Linux because of its open architecture, stability and performance, the release adds.

In addition, several hardware manufacturers, such as Huawei and Lenovo, ship Linux-based routers, servers, notebooks, mobile phones, and other products.

"China Mobile's decision to join The Linux Foundation and their commitment to Linux could represent a seismic step toward a realignment of OSes in China and in the telecommunications industry," Jim Zemlin, Foundation executive director said.

"For The Linux Foundation, the opportunity to present Linux as a choice to 560 million users is a power-packed proposition."