China's telecoms operators and industrial associations are actively promoting short messaging service (SMS) websites, an emerging business by which companies offer handset-based information services to individual users, in the face of a cold market reception.

The new business could be "quite promising, despite the fact that many people have yet to learn about it," said Ma Yanli, secretary-general of MobNIC, an official organization responsible for regulating and promoting SMS website services.

Ma estimates that the number of registered subscribers is expected to hit 100,000 by the year's end and reach 1 million in three years.

MobNIC was jointly set up in January by China Mobile Communications Union, the China Academy of Telecommunications Research of the Ministry of Information Industry, China Telecom and China Unicom.

According to Ni Jianzhong, vice-president of China Mobile Communications Union, subscribers, usually companies, first register their entities' names and then receive a code name before starting business.

And when a handset user seeks information about one of these subscribers, he/she sends their query to the code name and shortly afterwards gets a reply.

SMS websites were allowed to register as of last Tuesday. Currently www.dns.com.cn is the only registered entity.

"It creates a new service category for companies, with better efficiency and easier access than that of traditional Internet-based information services," Ni said.

According to Ma, the annual registration fee is 600 yuan (US$72.3). And updating content on the SMS webites is charged between 2,000 yuan (US$241) and 3,000 yuan (US$361.4).

However, the business could grow far more lucrative as carriers such as China Telecom and China Unicom develop new applications based on the service. The new technology will also promote e-government, meaning more transparency at all levels, Ma said.

"That's why operators are so willing to invest in the service," he said.

Promotional activities have been going on since the start of this month in 60 cities across the country.

Jiang Qun, president of dns.com.cn, was quoted as saying that the number of pre-registered subscribers for his website has so far exceeded 20,000, a majority of which are companies from South China's Guangdong Province. Meanwhile, Southwest China's Sichuan Province and East China's Jiangsu Province have been selected as trial areas for government subscribers.

In spite of the above, the market seems to have given the new business the cold shoulder.

"A smart idea, and a promising business in the future... but the services available may not satisfy the users' requests," said an analyst from CCID Consulting, China's leading market research firm, who declined to be named.

"SMS services for individual users have been left with little room to grow. And without leading, influential companies signing on, it will take quite a long time for the SMS website market to mature," he said.

(China Daily March 29, 2005)