Vodafone is among the new companies that have signed up to the Google Android mobile broadband platform group.

The Open Handset Alliance has announced 14 new members, including Sony Ericsson, Teleca AB, Borqs and Atheros Communications.

Frank H Rovekamp, global chief marketing officer for Vodafone Group, said: "Joining the Open Handset Alliance today is a logical step in our mobile internet journey.

"Working with emerging terminal platforms for smartphones is critical for us to deliver unbeatable customer experiences and accelerate time to market for innovative products and services."

Members are expected to either deploy Android compatible mobile broadband devices or make contributions to the Android Open Source Project.

The Android Open Source Project made the new platform source code available to everyone for free to build applications and contribute to the development of the core platform.

"Open source allows everyone and anyone equal access to the ideas and innovation that can make good products great," said Andy Rubin, senior director of mobile platforms at Google.