Tom.com Joins Hand with Great Wall in Broadband VentureTom.com is teaming up with mainland-listed Great Wall Tech in a joint venture to tap into China's fledging community broadband services network market.The new joint venture is said to have registered capital of 25 million yuan (about US$3 million), in which Tom.com would take up a controlling stake of 70 percent. Two units of Great Wall Tech - Great Wall Software and Great Wall Broadband Network - would have shares of 20 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively, according to Tuesday's China Securities News. Tom.com hoped the local link-up would gain a further foothold on the mainland ASP (Application Service Providers) market, the newspaper said. The new company would pool all the broadband resources, software development expertise and marketing strengths of the three companies, said Wang Shen, Tom.com administrative executive. "The co-operation will put Tom.com in the right direction to position itself as a cross-platform content provider with the strong back-up of its own contents resources", said Mr Wang. Tom.com has a partially controlled mainland unit, Maya online, which is a broadband content provider. In the first phase, the joint venture will introduce residential areas with an advanced broadband network that features online property management, video-on-demand services, online shopping and billing system, according to Yang Yuhang, general manager of Great Wall Broadband Network. Mr Yang said the tie-up would boost his company' market stake on the mainland. Great Wall Broad band Network is a community-based broadband network developer on the mainland. The new joint venture aims to generate its revenues from services charges, online advertising, e-commerce and e-trading solutions, according to the newspaper. The new company hoped to reach three million households within two years, but in the long term it aimed to form a country-wide sales network through access to the mainland's massive cable broadcasting network and telecoms broadband network, Mr Yang said. |
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