China Telecom, Netease Launch Mobile IM YiChat
Huxiu.com, 8/19/13
China Telecom (NYSE: CHA; 0728.HK) and Chinese internet company Netease (Nasdaq: NTES) have announced the establishment of a joint venture company, "Zhejiang Yixin Technology," which will operate the companies' newly launched mobile instant messaging service YiChat ("Yixin").
Yixin Technology has registered capital of RMB 200 mln and is majority owned by China Telecom with a 73% share, while Netease holds the remaining 27%. Lu Yaohui, GM of China Telecom's Zhejiang subsidiary, has been appointed Chairman of Yixin Technology, while Zhang Zheng, GM of the Marketing Division of Netease's Hangzhou Research Institute, will serve as CEO of the new company.
According to Zhang, YiChat is targeting a registered user base of 100 mln within six months of launch, as well as 50 mln active users. The head of Yixin Technology's Finance department will be appointed by China Telecom, while directors of the company's Product, Marketing, and HR departments will be appointed by Netease.
YiChat boasts similar features to Tencent's (0700.HK) WeChat (Weixin) mobile messaging application, such as voice messaging, SMS, video chat, and SNS functionality, as well as additional music and voicemail functions.
YiChat has launched a free data promotion targeting China Telecom E-Surfing mobile customers, offering 300 MB of non-YiChat-exclusive, nation-wide data (30 day validity) for newly registered YiChat users. In addition, monthly active YiChat users ("active" defined as 5 or more messages sent per month) may apply to receive an additional 60 MB of non-YiChat-exclusive, nation-wide data in the following month.
Editor's Note: For more background on this topic, please see "Rumor: China Telecom, Netease Begin CB of Mobile IM YiChat" MD 8/14/13 issue.
Keywords: Netease China Telecom users wireless mobile IM active users HR 0728.HK CHA NTES Lu Yaohui Zhang Zheng YiChat registered users Yixin Technology
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