China Mobile flexes power of Peoples

China Mobile's premium brand GoTone has reportedly given customers the first taste of the synergy created by the mobile giant's acquisition of China Resources Peoples Telephone (Peoples) last year.

Over the Chinese New Year, China Mobile promoted its dual-number roaming service to GoTone customers, who could apply for a secondary Hong Kong number from Peoples for making or receiving calls from the city and the mainland.

With the dual-number roaming SIM card, customers of China Mobile making or receiving local calls in Hong Kong could save up to 82 per cent, at 0.49 yuan per minute.

The saving for roaming calls to the mainland was 88 per cent, at 0.99 yuan per minute. The charge for sending a text message from Hong Kong to the mainland was 0.19 yuan, much lower than the $2 per SMS usually charged by local operators.

Although the discounted roaming service was a short-term promotion, it gave a glimpse of how China Mobile can benefit from its $3.38 billion takeover of Peoples.

Industry players have alleged China Mobile's real interest in Peoples lies in getting preferential roaming rates from the small local operator.