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China Mobile pushes cloud-linked data plan

Beijing-based mobile operator hopes to sign up 10 million users in China by year-end for its "Wireless City" data plan, according to report.
Written by Liau Yun Qing, Contributor

China Mobile, which is banking on its wireless data service to maintain revenue growth, is aiming to sign up 10 million subscribers for its "Wireless City" data plan by end-2011, according to a report.

China Mobile CEO Li Yue said 6 million users have already signed up for the plan which will be extended to 100 cities by the end of the year. Subscribers of Wireless City can access 10,000 applications delivered through cloud computing, he said in a Bloomberg report Wednesday.

Describing the plan as a "one-stop daily information service platform", subscribers will be able to access apps such as medical record keeping, utility payment and traffic reports, said Li.

Bloomberg noted that the Chinese operator was banking on wireless data services to maintain growth as revenue for voice services continued to drop, amid the Chinese government's call for more competition between the country's three carriers.

In a separate article by Chinese news site C114, Li was reported to say that the company had signed agreements with more than 160 cities in 26 provinces to set up its Wireless City network. Among these cities, 150 would have the basic infrastructure support for Wireless City by early-2012, he added.

China Mobile is the world's biggest mobile carrier by subscriber number at 633.5 million, as of end-September. However, only 43.2 million subscribers were on its 3G network, according to Bloomberg.

Despite the lack of compatible 3G in the country, China Mobile have 10 million Apple iPhone users who rely on 2G and Wi-Fi connection to access the Internet, the company said in late-October.

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