China Mobile has selected Beijing UltraPower and ChinaSoft International to revamp its Fetion mobile IM business.
The Chinese mobile giant has signed a 399 million yaun ($65 million) contract with UltraPower – which has been operating and managing Fetion business since 2007- for three subsidiary projects of the revamp.
The renewed contract will see D-media Communication Tech, a Beijing-based wholly-owned subsidiary of Ultrapower, continue to provide system development, technical implementation and supporting service for Fetion.
Meanwhile, ChinaSoft International will provide business construction and support for mobile Fetion and Fetion HD products to China Mobile under a one- year contract valued at 100 million yuan ($16.3 million).
The project aims to provide product design, technology implementation plans, and formulate a differentiated competitive strategy, the Chinese software and IT service provider said.
Together the contracts have a total value of 499 million ($81.3 million), falling short of the 638 million yuan that China Mobile had reportedly planned to invest in the service.
In April, China Mobile’s Guangdong branch launched a tender for four subsidiary projects related to the operation and service development of Fetion, as part of the operator’s strategy to take on WeChat, Tencent’s popular mobile messaging service.
As well as revamping Fetion, China Mobile this week launched a mobile VoIP application, called Jego, in a bid to compete against Skype in the IDD and video calling markets.