Chinese Mobile Virtual Network Pioneer Busap, The Major Player In China's In-bus Wifi Market, Set To Build The Country's Largest In-bus Wifi Mobile Platform

News provided by

Jan 22, 2014, 09:00 ET

BEIJING, Jan. 22, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Would you like to enjoy high-speed internet access, multi-screen interaction, easy downloading of games and other applications and have access to intelligent public transport inquiries in your city while you are riding the bus? Wouldn't that be something awesome? Don't doubt that it will come true. Busap Holding Company Limited, among one of the first companies to receive a mobile virtual network operator license in China, plans to invest 1 billion yuan (approx. US$165 million) to build the country's largest in-bus WiFi platform to cater to the real demands of bus riders.

The platform, an indispensable part of Busap's core strategy for its mobile virtual network, will add 100,000 new in-bus WiFi spots during 2014 in addition to the existing 50,000 spots in 22 provincial capitals and other select cities across China, resulting in 150,000 in-bus WiFi spots in 33 provincial capitals and other major cities by year end. The MyWiFi-branded platform will become China's largest in-bus mobile application platform, leveraging a customer base of 200 million bus riders.

With one of the first to be issued mobile virtual network operator licenses in China in hand, Busap is putting its unique strengths in resources and competence in innovation into its focus on the bus segment. Busap plans to leverage the largest in-bus WiFi network platform and the integration of mobile communications and the mobile internet to create the next generation of mobile communications entrance. In its superior resources of in-bus, the operator aims to enable access to in-bus data services and allow bus management companies and their passengers to enjoy fully digitalized innovative solutions and in-depth integration of mobile communications and the mobile internet to generate a smart in-bus lifestyle in the mobile internet era.

Busap plans to kick off a pilot plan in an initial number of 50,000 buses with in-bus internet access in the second quarter of this year and increase the number to 150,000 buses within one year after formally becoming one of the resellers of mobile telecommunications services, as part of its efforts to build China's largest in-bus WiFi mobile platform. It has already been publicly disclosed that Busap will join hands with the leading global ICT solutions providers in the domains of in-bus WiFi and mobile applications to pave the way for wide application across the in-bus WiFi network.

This new business, what can effectively be termed as the Internet on Wheels business segment, will not only provide bus riders with CCTV mobile TV media services, but will also provide the new virtual operator services based on mobile communications, the mobile internet and in-vehicle WiFi, allowing for access to social, entertainment, payment and other in-bus services. Meanwhile, the business provides bus management companies with video surveillance services, allowing them to keep abreast of vehicle conditions and to provide timely and intelligent dispatching, in addition to industry information services including innovative applications for bus management firms.

The following estimates can provide a sense of what the usage of WiFi on China's buses will be once the program in rolled out -- residents in China's first-tier cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, spend on average 90 minutes on the bus every day (more than 80 percent of bus passengers in these cities are smartphone users), compared with about 60 minutes in other cities. If calculated based on one bus picking up 1,200 passengers per day, 150,000 buses will provide in-vehicle WiFi service to nearly 200 million bus riders; and, based on the estimate that one bus picks up 30 passengers per trip, completes 10 round trips per day and that 200 of these 300 bus riders will avail themselves of the in-vehicle WiFi service, it means that 150,000 buses will provide nearly 20 million passengers with in-vehicle WiFi services, close to the average number of daily visits to Taobao.com.

Busap's MyWiFi will be available for in- and off-network users -- in-network users can switch from 4G/3G to WiFi which has the additional benefit of having no limits on the amount mobile data traffic or number of applications downloaded; off-network users can select customized packages for unlimited traffic and applications. MyWiFi's WiFi Store offers users 150-megabyte in-vehicle WiFi access for downloading of free mobile games and other applications.

By leveraging the time that a huge segment of the population spends on the bus every day, MyWiFi will soon be acting as one of the country's most powerful mobile internet platforms and as part of its commitment to the new business, Busap will be rolling out more smart and people-oriented bus media services as the firm continues on its quest to build a new and intelligent bus landscape and create a rich, perfect, personal and smart mobile internet life for consumers.

About China MCom Co., Ltd

Established on Nov 18, 2013 as a subsidiary of Busap Holding Company Limited, China MCom Co., Ltd. plans to integrate the new media resource advantages of its parent into its products and services. The firm will focus on further consolidation of products and businesses across the mobile internet and mobile communications sectors, with the mission of building itself into one of China's leading new mobile virtual operators focused on the youth and young adult segments and providing unified communications access services to users.

About Busap Holding Company Limited

Busap, one of China's leading high tech groups, is chiefly engaged in three business segments: new media, mobile communications and the mobile internet. Established in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, China in 2003, the company now has three business headquarters, in Beijing, Shanghai and Nanchang, as well as 22 subsidiaries. Its new media group has built the largest bus TV network across China by installing TV broadcasting systems on buses throughout the country through joint investment with CCTV and cooperation with bus operators in 22 major Chinese cities, providing media services to over 100 million bus riders daily. Busap's mobile communications business is based primarily on the 2013 telecom reform in China, when the firm was approved as one of the first mobile resellers in China and founded China MCom as a fashionable communications brand appealing to the youth and young adult segments and with the mission of becoming one of the country's leading mobile virtual operators. As for its mobile internet business, the company undertook the research and development of the mobile application "Mike" through its in-vehicle WiFi platform providing coverage in 22 major cities across China and collaborates with providers of mobile communications products to create a unified mobile communications platform, providing six smart life services for users including mobile communications, mobile social networks, mobile media, mobile payment, mobile E-commerce and mobile entertainment in a mobile internet era.