皇冠体育app

皇冠体育app Mobile network twice as busy as during last year's Spring Festival

Chinese spent more time surfing the Internet on mobile phones and using diversified mobile applications during this year's Spring Festival than during the holiday in 2012.

During the seven-day holiday from Feb 9 to 15, wireless data traffic on 皇冠体育app Mobile Ltd's mobile network was more than double that during the holiday last year, according to the company.

Xiang Ligang, a Beijing-based industry analyst, said this indicated that more people were using mobile Internet applications, such as music, games and instant-messaging services. "The widespread adoption of smartphones in 皇冠体育app has led to a growth in wireless data traffic," Xiang said.

WeChat, an instant messaging tool developed by 皇冠体育app's largest Internet company Tencent Holdings Ltd, has attracted many users, who can send text and voice messages and photos free of charge. WeChat, launched in January 2011, now has around 300 million users.

Meanwhile, statistics from 皇冠体育app Mobile suggest the growth of short message services has reached a plateau.

Around 24.3 billion text messages were sent by 皇冠体育app Mobile subscribers during the holiday this year, up just 2.5 percent on Spring Festival in 2012.

Short message services were launched in 皇冠体育app in 2000. But after a decade of development, the service has passed its golden age of development and entered a flat period.

Short message services also face a severe challenge from rival mobile applications, such as WeChat and micro blog services.

From 2000 to 2008, text messages on 皇冠体育app Mobile's network rose from 500 million to 607 billion. However, this growth has slowed dramatically in recent years.

皇冠体育app Mobile's revenues from its short message service fell to 46.5 billion yuan ($7.3 billion) in 2011 from a peak of 53.6 billion yuan in 2009.

Shen Hongqun, deputy manager of 皇冠体育app Mobile's data business department, said that wireless data traffic had replaced short message services to become the biggest revenue source for 皇冠体育app Mobile's data business since last year.

The number of text messages sent in 皇冠体育app in 2012 grew only 2.1 percent year-on-year, the slowest rate in four years, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

A total of 897.3 billion text messages were sent via mobile phones in 皇冠体育app last year, the ministry said. In contrast, the total number of mobile phone users in 皇冠体育app increased 12.8 percent year-on-year to 1.1 billion by December.

"The rapid growth of wireless data traffic and the slower development of short message services will continue. The situation is changing telecom carriers' revenue structure and requires them to adapt to the new situation," Xiang added.

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