Internet firm executive condemns vicious competition

Vicious competition has become rampant in China's Internet industry, which can erode public trust and ultimately hurt the interests of the companies in the field, an executive said Wednesday, alerting against looming improper competition among some leading Internet companies.

"Almost 90 percent of negative information about our company comes from Internet ghost writers hired by competing companies, while the authentic complaints from users account for less than 10 percent," Lin Yu, chairman of NQ Mobile, a major provider of mobile security solutions in the country, told reporters Wednesday during the ongoing World Economic Forum, also known as Summer Davos.

"There are some companies competing in an illegal and vulgar fashion. But there needs to be a lowest acceptable level (amid intensified competition)," Lin said, without revealing names of the alleged combating companies.

Lin's remarks came on the heels of a senior government official's call for boycott of improper competition among Internet firms in the wake of a series of price wars that recently happened and made headlines across the nation.

"As competition grows, the proper way to cope with it should be through negotiations, (resorting to) administrative (departments) or legal (means), instead of vicious hyping and improper competition," Shang Bing, a vice minister of Industry and Information Technology, told a forum in Beijing Tuesday.

"(Competition) should in particular not be to the detriment of consumers' due interests," Shang noted, urging Internet companies to abide by industry regulations and commercial ethics to facilitate a healthy and fair business environment, without pointing to specific firms.

To win over rivals in a fast-changing market, Internet firms have spared no efforts. The recent price war among some leading e-commerce companies as well as the battle among some major search engine operators may not only dent user confidence but fray the nerves of the government.

"Free competition helps drive the nation's Internet economy, but companies' excessive obsession in whopping interests leads to improper competition as well," Li Sen, vice president of MoboTap, the Chinese maker of the popular Dolphin Browser for Apple's iOS and Android platforms, told the Global Times in a phone interview Wednesday.

"The Chinese government has long been giving enough leeway for the Internet sector due to its importance in spurring up the nation's economy, but it's time for the government to assume more responsibility to strengthen supervision over the industry for a sustainable and healthy development," Li noted.