The Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), last week issued a fourth batch of licenses as part of its large-scale trial of opening the Chinese mobile sector to Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO). MIIT has already awarded mobile resale licenses to a total of 25 companies since the beginning of the year, including Chinese smartphone makers Hon Hai, Lenovo, Xiaomi and ecommerce giant Alibaba and JD.
Youku Tudou, a leading video over-the-top (OTT) provider in China which has already established partnership with China Unicom to resell its mobile services is one of the MVNO license recipient. Youku Tudou said that the company has been developing mobile internet based products and services and will be able to add more customer behavioral data to its existing big data of users' content consumption behavior, and expand its reach beyond its current mix of customers as an online video service provider, driving the convergence of online and offline services.
Victor Koo, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Youku Tudou
Content and communications business have significant synergies that will benefit mobile users. Mobile communications services will become more attractive to users when coupled with content services. With the ever expanding 4G availability, we shall be able to leverage our strength in Internet video, multi-screen leadership, big data, and smart home entertainment to create a more compelling user experience. We expect these packaged services will over time promote the growth of our subscriber base and boost our Average Revenue Per User (ARPU).
