Chinese microblogging giant Sina is planning to launch an OTT messaging app to compete with the likes of Tencent’s WeChat, LINE and WhatsApp, reports the Financial Times (FT).

Sina’s CEO, Charles Chao, told the FT that the company is launching the messaging service this week to complement its Weibo microblog, China’s equivalent to Twitter. The new product will have chat, news feeds and pictures with a greater emphasis on group messaging than Weibo.

The success of Tencent’s WeChat/Weixin has impacted the popularity of Weibo. Tencent claims its messaging service has 195 million monthly active users and 300 million registered users.

Chinese mobile operators China Mobile and China Telecom have launched their own OTT messaging apps, while China Unicom partnered with Tencent to launch a SIM card for WeChat.