Alibaba to launch telecom services in June

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, China's e-commerce giant, is expected to launch its telecom services in June after gaining one of China's first mobile virtual network operating licenses at the end of last year.

According to a Xinhua News Agency report on Friday, Alibaba has teamed up with all three telecom carriers in China and is working closely with them to provide the best telecommunications services. However, the company hasn't released the detailed mobile service package yet.

Alibaba is among the first 11 companies approved by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to operate virtual network.

The ministry published draft proposals on allowing Chinese private companies to buy mobile network resources from the nation's three telecom operators in January this year.

Of the card numbers issued by virtual network operators, mobile numbers starting with 1700 belong to China Telecom, 1705 to China Mobile and 1709 to China Unicom.

China's second-largest e-commerce player by market share, JD.com, said it will launch its telecom service in May.