Viet Son Net

China Mobile (NYSE:CHL, 0941.HK) began commercial operation of its mobile reading business on May 5, 163.com reported. The company currently offers the service on either a one-off basis at between RMB 1 to RMB 10 per issue or as a monthly package priced at RMB 3 to RMB 5, the report said citing China Mobile’s data division General Manager Gao Nianshu.

The carrier is planning to release 8 e-reader models for sale, said the report.

China Mobile content partners include China Publishing Group, Zhejiang Publishing Group and China Writers Association, Guo said, adding that China Mobile will split revenues with content providers on a 60:40 basis.

According to the report, the telecom operator has recorded 30 million user visits since it started trialing mobile reader services in eight provinces in October last year, the report said. China had 155 million mobile reading users by the end of last year, a separate report by Chinanews said, quoting the Vice Minister of Industry and Information Technology Xi Guohua.

Sina (Nasdaq:SINA) has already developed its own search engine that could replace Google (Nasdaq:GOOG) search on the Sina homepage, cctime.com reported Friday quoting a Sina public relations chief.

Virtual community site Tianya Club is implementing a new plan to continue operating without Google’s help, the report said quoting Tianya CEO Xing Ming. Tianya Club said Friday that it has not suspended its cooperation with Google for its interactive community and Q&A sites, and the parties are still negotiating solutions after Google.cn began redirecting traffic to its Hong Kong site, DoNews reports March 26.

China Mobile’s (NYSE:CHL, 0941.HK) mobile application service Monternet has switched from Google’s search engine to “Monternet search,” reports Chinareviewnews.com. An unnamed source said China Mobile also planned to terminate contracts for the use of Google’s search engine in China Mobile’s wireless application protocol homepage, said the cctime.com report.

China Unicom (NYSE:CHU,0762.HK,600050.SH) said earlier this week that its handsets with Google’s Android operating system will no longer offer Google search functions.

China Mobile (NYSE: CHL, 0941.HK) decided in an internal meeting to require wireless value-added service providers (SPs) to stop providing services within 3 months to knock-off and illegally imported phones without valid network access permits, Beijing News reported March 26 quoting insiders within China Mobile. SPs that don’t comply will have their business terminated, the report said.

The decision followed a March 15 expose by China Central Television, which addressed illegal partnerships between SPs and handset vendors.

China Mobile Multimedia Broadcasting (CMMB), a domestic multimedia and mobile TV standard, started commercial operation on March 22, Sina reports quoting a joint announcement that day from China Mobile (NYSE:CHL, 0941.HK) and China Satellite Mobile Broadcasting Corporation. China Mobile targets 5 million CMMB users and plans to offer a promotional package priced at RMB 6 per month with a free one-month trial, the report said.

CMMB mobile TV is being offered in 27 provinces and cities, the report said.

China Mobile (NYSE:CHL, 0941.HK) reported net profit of RMB 115.17 billion in 2009, up 2.3% year-on-year, according to the company’s full year report issued March 17. China Mobile revenues grew 9.8% year-on-year to RMB 452.10 billion, of which usage fees generated RMB 285.97 billion. Revenue from the company’s value-added business increased 16.0% from the previous year to contribute RMB 131.43 billion, which China Mobile attributed to expansion services including short messaging services, color ring tones, mobile internet access and “mobile paper.”

During the year, China Mobile recorded a total voice usage volume of 2.92 trillion minutes, with average minutes of usage per user (MOU) of 494 minutes, and monthly average revenue per user (ARPU) of RMB 77. China Mobile had a total of 522.28 million users by the end of December.

According to previous reports, the company had cut its standard mobile data traffic fee from RMB 0.03/KB to RMB 0.01/KB in 2009.

China Mobile (NYSE:CHL, 0941.HK) slashed its standard mobile data traffic fee from RMB 0.03/KB to RMB 0.01/KB in 2009, c114.net reported February 10. The company also reduced its package service fees by a large margin during the year, the report said.

Previous reports said China Mobile plans to build over 80,000 TD-SCDMA base stations in 2010, to cover all Chinese regions and developed counties in eastern China.

China Mobile (NYSE:CHL, 0941.HK) plans to build over 80,000 TD-SCDMA base stations in 2010, to cover all Chinese regions and developed eastern China counties, report c114.net citing China Mobile Vice President Li Yue. China Mobile currently has 100,000 base stations, Li said.

China Mobile had 5.51 million TD-SCDMA subscribers and 87,000 base stations as of late 2009.