Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) and Intel, the world’s biggest semi-conductor company, agreed on a “common set of objectives” to accelerate the delivery of media-rich services and content directly from the base station.

NSN and Intel add that the intent of the collaboration is to “accelerate development of an enhanced mobile broadband experience that gives operators new revenue and differentiation opportunities”.

Based around NSN’s “Liquid Applications” platform – which places applications, services and content in base stations, so moving them to closer to mobile subscribers – the two companies are looking to create a mobile edge computing ecosystem.

This will primarily involve (OTT) content providers, independent software vendors, and application service providers.

New business models between mobile operators and other ecosystem players are also to be explored.

“Mobile operators have an extensive network of base stations in numerous locations,” said Dirk Lindemeier, head of Liquid Net at NSN. “Placing applications and services in the base station will turn the base station into an intelligent part of a mobile operator’s network, to serve and deliver local content. Other content providers in the ecosystem can also benefit from the proximity of applications to mobile users.”

For its part, Intel provides low-power processors for NSN’s Radio Applications Cloud Server (RACS), which lies at the heart of the Liquid Applications platform. RACS provides a range of capabilities, such as localised processing, content storage, and access to real-time radio and network information inside the base station.

“Operators can now extend the applications and services cloud all the way out to the base station and thus offer an enhanced and unmatched mobile broadband experience,” said Steve Price, general manager of Intel’s Communications Infrastructure Division.

The partnership announcement with NSN comes only days after Brian Krzanich, Intel’s new chief executive, said he intended to intensify the firm’s efforts in the fast-growing smartphone and tablet markets.