China Mobile-Tencent JV had been initially approved by China’s market regulator in November 2022
Chinese internet company Tencent Holdings and China Unicom have officially formed a joint venture with a registered capital of CNY300 million ($43.4 million), Chinese press reported.
The JV was initially approved by China’s market regulator in November 2022.
The JV, dubbed Yunzhou Times Technology, was incorporated on April 26, with Ma Yuerui as its legal representative. Ma was previously deputy general manager of China Unicom Global.
China Unicom noted that Yunzhou Times will rely on the carrier’s network resources and capabilities, while Tencent will focus on provision of content delivery network and edge computing services in the digital government and artificial intelligence sectors.
China Unicom’s subsidiary Unicom Innovation Enterprise Investment owns 48% of the new entity while Tencent’s unit Shenzhen Tencent Industry Venture Capital owns a 42% stake in the JV. The remaining 10% of the new entity is owned by the firm’s employees.
In 2018, China Unicom and Tencent had signed an agreement with the aim of forming a strategic partnership and set up a joint 5G mobile technology laboratory. Since then, the partners have been collaborating in different areas including edge computing, network slicing, telematics and high-precision positioning fields.
Chinese internet giants Tencent, Baidu and Alibaba Group Holding carried out strategic investments in China Unicom in August 2017, with as strategic investors in August 2017, with Tencent investing CNY11 billion at the time.
China Unicom is also actively involved in the research of future 6G systems. In April, the carrier said it expected to complete technical research and launch early applications for future 6G systems by 2025.
The timeline was announced by China Unicom chairman and CEO Liu Liehong, who noted that early 6G application scenarios will be introduced by 2025 in China, adding that the commercial launch of 6G in China is expected to start from 2030.
6G technologies have not yet been standardized, but research and development on the next generation of cellular technology is already underway around the world.
China’s three telecom operators – China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom – have all been reported to be involved in early 6G research and development, as they also deploy 5G infrastructure and services across China.
The Chinese government plans to put major focus on 6G technologies, according to a recent report published by Chinese state newspaper Global Times. It reckons China has a competitive advantage in cellular because of its technology capability and application scenarios, said the report.
An official from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) recently said the country will formulate a specific 6G R&D action plan, and also encourage local authorities to accelerate R&D activities around 6G-enabled industrial applications. Research into “humanoid robots”, the metaverse, and quantum technology will also be accelerated, the report added.
