China Mobile teaming up with ZTE to take on Tencent's WeChat

China Mobile, the country's leading mobile phone and data serivces provider, may soon launch a new real-time messaging solution to challenge Tencent’s WeChat service.

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China Mobile hopes to challenge the dominance of Tencent's WeChat in the mobile messaging market. Photo: Reuters

Published: 11:00am, 17 Mar 2015Updated: 11:12am, 21 Apr 2015

China Mobile, the country's leading mobile phone and data serivces provider, may soon launch a new real-time messaging solution to challenge Tencent’s popular WeChat service as Chinese mobile phone users increasingly spend less time talking and more time messaging.

China Mobile is teaming up with telecommunications firm ZTE to develop Rich Communication Services (RCS) facilities. ZTE, currently the sole builder of China Mobile’s RCS technology, said once the RCS service is rolled out, it could poise real challenge to WeChat, currently the most popular instant messaging service with Chinese users.

China Mobile has longed been plagued by WeChat, which has largely replaced the short messaging services (SMS) offered by traditional telecoms carriers. Chinese operators even at one time tried to restrain the fast growth of WeChat.

RCS is a platform developed by a global association of mobile operators, that enables the delivery of voice and SMS, instant messaging, live video and file sharing across various devices.

In comparison, OTT or over-the-top, refers to a range of online or "value-added" services that people are able to use for free over their mobile network. Some popular OTT services include Skype, Line, Viber, WhatsApp, KakaoTalk and WeChat.