New China Mobile CEO builds bridges

There is a big opportunity for mobile operators to act as the bridge between different partners within the telecoms space and between the telco industry and others, and future revenue is to be found in penetrating the daily lives of mobile users, according to the new man at the helm of the world's largest mobile operator, China Mobile.

“The mobile market will become the future channel for all walks of life,” said Li Yue, president and CEO of China Mobile, in his first international keynote speech since taking over at the telco in August.

In earlier years mobile operators concentrated on expanding their networks to provide ubiquitous voice and SMS coverage, but that market is now becoming saturated, Li said, addressing the auditorium at the opening session of Mobile Asia Congress 2010 on Wednesday. “We are now pursuing ubiquitous content and applications,” he said.

“The mobile Internet is becoming our most important development,” he added, describing it as a US$10 billion opportunity. China Mobile generated 29.5% of its mobile revenue from value-added services – that is, non-SMS data services – in the first half of 2010, up from 28.1% during the same period in 2009, Li said.

He also highlighted some of China Mobile's new services, including the mobile reading offering launched by the telco in May. The service has attracted more than 30 million users, and now has 6 million paying customers, Li explained.

In a bid to drive mobile data services forward, China Mobile has created a platform to engage with content creators and partners, including a pool of terminals and operating systems to aid applications developers. The company believes it can create a “win-win situation” in the mobile marketplace, where all members of the value chain benefit.

China Mobile aims to be “a bridge with all suppliers... and also a hub,” said Li, adding that the telco is working on signing up more partners.

“[The mobile Internet] is changing our traditional ecology as a mobile operator,” said Li, since it has changed the way end users collaborate. And changing customer behaviour provides “a lot of opportunities” for mobile providers, he said.

Those opportunities also include vertical markets.

“[We will] try whatever possible to penetrate into all kinds of industries,” said Li. “We are the connecting bridge with all kinds of industries.”