China Mobile (CHL) has formally launched a B2C payment service with Guangzhou as one of its pilot cities.
China Mobile's B2C service, which is called "Mobile Audio, Video, Books and Publication Club", is currently run on a trial basis in Guangdong and Hubei by a company called Yi Xun and China Mobile plans to bring it to Hunan, Shanghai, Jilin, Tianjin, Zhejiang and Liaoning in the future.
Users of China Mobile's Gotone service can apply for the service by sending a short message before they pay for the goods purchased from MAVBP with their mobile phone. However currently the maximum payment users can fulfill via their mobile phones each month is CNY150.
China Mobile tried mobile phone payments previously, but it halted the service because of worries that it would then be subject to rules governing the Chinese financial sector. But China Mobile has found a solution for the small denominations of payments made via MAVBP because each user's order is like a special purchase received on its Monternet and it can charge the users in the same way it charges service providers.