China Mobile to capitalize on cloud computing

China's telecom titan, the China Mobile Communications Group, is planning to build a cloud computing base in north China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region to bolster its online data management services. Wang Jianzhou, board chairman of China Mobile, said Friday that the company has signed a memorandum with the regional government to build the cloud computing base in the city of Hohhot. China Mobile has promised to pool 12 billion yuan (1.9 billion U.S. dollars) for the construction of the facility, which is expected to accommodate 40,000 servers. Wang said Inner Mongolia's abundant wind power and coal resources will help to ensure electricity supplies for the mammoth computing facility. He said the facility will support the company's future business development, including TD-LTE, or "Time Division-Long Term Evolution," better known as the country's homegrown 4G standard. Li Zhengmao, China Mobile's vice president, said last month that the production of smart mobile phones has jumped 50 percent year-on-year globally. The continuous development and deepened applications of 3G and LTE technology mean that mobile Internet has entered a new phase for rapid growth, Li said. China Mobile, with more than 630 million subscribers, is the world's largest telecommunications firm by number of users. It registered 43 million 3G customers as of the end of September, according to the group's third-quarter report.