China Mobile Ltd, the country's largest cell phone carrier, is mulling setting up an R&D center in Silicon Valley in the U.S. next year, sources reported, citing Huang Xiaoqing, president of China Mobile's Institute of Research.

According to Huang, it is the first trial for China's telecom industry on an overseas R&D facility since the recent restructuring.

China Mobile expects more innovations from the data services, which is estimated to be an important revenue source for the Chinese company in the future in addition to the traditional voice services.

Huang confirmed that China Mobile is actively contacting other operators, aiming to build a jointly-managed mobile platform, such as Google Inc's Android mobile phone operating system.

However, industry analysts say China Mobile has been working on a homegrown operating system, which is not officially launched yet.

Shares of China Mobile climbed 2.87% to close at HK$76.95 on Tuesday.