23 Sep 2009 13:14

China Mobile to invest $73.2 mln in mobile reading center in Zhejiang

Beijing. September 23. INTERFAX-CHINA - China Mobile Communications Corp. (China Mobile) will invest RMB 500 million ($73.2 million) over the next five years in its Zhejiang Province-based mobile reading center, which is currently under construction, according to a Sept. 23 China Mobile announcement.

The center will enable China Mobile to develop and operate its new mobile reading business, conduct research on related technologies and establish partnerships with content providers and device manufacturers.

China Mobile will inject RMB 50 million ($7.32 million) into the center by the end of 2010, according to the announcement.

Zhong Tianhua, general manager of China Mobile's Zhejiang subsidiary, said that China Mobile hopes to allow the download of reading material directly onto the mobile reading devices of its subscribers through its TD-SCDMA network.

China Mobile organized a mobile reading summit on Sept. 23 in Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, and participants included over 30 major publishers and press groups, eight major online literature portals and a number of well known writers. According to the announcement, the telecom operator hopes to ink agreements on content cooperation with at least 10 of the summit attendees.

Interfax reported on Sept. 11 that China Mobile is dedicated to accelerating the development of its mobile reading business, with the launch of two eBook readers in as many months.

In addition, China Mobile signed an agreement with the Zhejiang provincial government in March to invest RMB 50 billion ($7.32 billion) in the province over the next five years, which will be put towards TD-SCDMA network rollout, Internet data center construction, a TD-SCDMA industry park and other related facilities.

China Mobile announced that it would commence construction of its mobile reading center during the same month.

-CG