Asia Express - Mobile Communications
China Unicom, China Merchants Bank Deepen Partnership for iPhone Banking Services
November 05, 2010
Chinese telecom operator China Unicom and China Merchants Bank recently entered into a strategic agreement, whereby both parties agreed to co-work in the development of mobile payment, mobile banking, and financial applications for use on Apple iPhone, the Xinhua News reported on November 3. The tie-up between China Unicom and China Merchants Bank began in July 2009 where they teamed up for mobile internet services. As of the first three quarters of 2010, China Unicom's total revenues topped 125.11 billion RMB (US$18.7 billion; US$1 = 6.7 RMB), 63.59 billion RMB (US$9.5 billion) of which was contributed by mobile service revenues, with mobile service ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) reaching 43.5 RMB (US$6.50) in the first nine months of 2010.