China Mobile is the largest and most valuable nationwide telecom enterprise in the world. With 570 million subscribers, it also has the largest user base of any such company. Vodafone is the immediate competitor, which has direct operations in almost 31 countries, with around 347 million subscribers.
In an announcement, Linux Foundation Executive Director Jim Zemlin said, "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. For The Linux Foundation, the opportunity to present Linux as a choice to 560 million users is a power-packed proposition." [via mashable]