China’s MVNO user base jumps to 20M
China’s new class of MVNOs had an estimated 20 million subscribers at the end of last year, up from just 2.1 million last January.

The top six MVNOs control 88 per cent of China’s mobile resale service market, C114.net reported.

The Industry and Information Technology Ministry granted licences to 41 private firms in 2014 as part of its efforts to restructure the industry to create more competition and innovation.

Xu Lidong, director of market research of Planning and Design Research Institute of CATR (China Academy of Telecommunication Research), said 39 firms have launched MNVO service.

Many of the MVNO subscribers are on China’s east coast, with more than 50 per cent in five provinces — Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shandong and Beijing.

3HK, Docomo trial VoLTE roaming
3 Hong Kong, the territory’s second largest mobile operator, conducted a bilateral international voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) roaming trial with Japan’s NTT Docomo.

The trial used S8 home routing (S8HR) architecture, an LTE data roaming-based technology that can be deployed without IMS interaction between operators.

3HK said it plans to partner with more operators to take VoLTE roaming to additional countries.

Meizu to cut workforce by 5%
Chinese handset maker Meizu plans to reduce its workforce by 200 people by the middle of next month as smartphone demand slows in China and globally.

The company has about 4,000 employees.

Internet giant Alibaba bought a minority stake in Meizu last year for $590 million to promote its YunOS operating system.

Meizu’s smartphone shipments are forecast to expand 25 per cent to 25 million unit this year, according to estimates by Bloomberg Intelligence, the Taipei Times said.

Globe partners with Asiasoft on payments
Regional online gaming firm Asiasoft signed an agreement with Globe Telecom to deploy the operator’s mobile wallet platform for users to make gaming-related transactions.

The partnership enables Globe’s GCash to be used in the Playpark game portal and mobile app checkouts via PlayMall, Asiasoft’s single wallet platform. The deal allows GCash customers to buy “cash items”, “lives”, “coins” or “gems” without the need for a credit card.

The agreement includes other members of the Singtel Group, including Singtel, Thailand’s AIS and Indonesia’s Telkomsel.

Asiasoft has been working with its subsidiary Level Up!, the online game publisher in the Philippines that published games such as Ragnarok Online and Cabal Online. Asiasoft has a dominant market share in Southeast Asia in mobile and PC games.