China Telecom Corporation Limited (HK:00728) is reportedly to roll out a 499 yuan contract, including a 3G handset preinstalled with WeChat (source in Chinese).
Targeted at rural areas, the contract features a 399 yuan E-surfing branded smartphone, 100 yuan prepaid fee and 20M data every month. China Telecom claims the monthly data offering means 20 thousand text messages, 400 photos or 360-minutes-long voice messages through WeChat.
The introduction of WeChat OTT business will bring the competition among telecom operators to a feverish pitch. The OTT mode enables telecom carriers to embed WeChat business into their contracts, giving a push to data-based services but bringing more pressure to traditional telecom businesses.
This tie-up endowed China Telecom a competitive edge against its major rivals of China Mobile and China Unicom.
