Licenses for mobile virtual network operators issued

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology officially issued the first licenses for mobile virtual network operators on Thursday, allowing domestic private companies to offer repackaged mobile services to users.

According to a document posted on the ministry's website, 11 Chinese companies, including www.net.cn an Internet service subsidiary of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, e-commerce giant JD.com and mobile phone retail chain store D.Phone Group, received licenses.

The ministry published draft proposals on allowing Chinese private companies to buy mobile network resources from three telecom operators in January. The proposed two-year trial allows private enterprises to rebrand mobile services and sell them to customers.

JD.com said it has inked strategic partnership agreements with both China Unicom and China Telecom and will build up its own special telecom services, including voice services, short messages and mobile data packages.

JD.com announced on Thursday that it has got a license to be one of China's first mobile virtual network operators.

License-holding companies will be allowed to run basic telecom businesses by renting infrastructure from telecom operators or even through the Internet.

According to a press release from JD.com, the company has inked a strategic partnership agreement with both China Unicom and China Telecom and it is eager to provide more innovative and tailor-made telecom services to clients in the future.

Zhao Guoqing, vice-chairman of JD.com, said that the company will build up its own special telecom services, including voice services, short messages and mobile data packages.

JD.com has more than 140 million registered users. Most of them are aged between 23 and 45, a key segment of the mobile phone market in China. In addition, JD.com has experience cooperating with the three major telecom operators in China as the largest mobile phone retailer in the country, the company said.

Eleven licenses for mobile virtual network operators were issued to private companies by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on Thursday, Chinese media reported.