Joint telecom R&D center planned

China Telecom and France Telecom agreed to establish a joint R&D center in Beijing, each company committing US$24 million to the project. Officials said the center would be used for testing new technologies, application integration and developing new businesses. Xi Guohua, vice-minister of Information Industry, said China is committed to creating a better environment for international cooperation in the telecom sector in line with its WTO commitments.