China Communication Industry Revs Up 10.7% YoY -- According to China's Ministry of Information Industry (MII), China's communication industry recorded revenues of 309.68 billion Yuan in the first half of 2005, up 10.7 percent year on year. Fixed line users increased by 25.68 million subscribers in the first half of the 2005, while mobile users increased by 28.34 million users. Little Smart users increased by 14.88 million to hit 79.75 million total users. Broadband subscribers increased by 6.78 million in the first six months of 2005 to 31.65 million subscribers. Short messaging (SMS) volume hit 139.25 billion messages, up 39.8 percent year on year.
The Open Banking business model has been advantageous for Third-Party Providers (TPPs), helping them to extend their offerings into other areas of financial services with new capabilities. Open Banking is also advantageous for traditional banking institutions, despite the perceived loss of custodianship over their data, by providing greater accessibility to more bank services. Furthermore, Open Banking can help serve Mobile Internet providers that are able to leverage it to create tailored services according to customers’ preferences and/or economic limitations. Open Banking Market Development Since traditional banking services are made more convenient by TPPs via greater data access, customers can proactively manage their finances and shape the development of new financial offerings. This is particularly noticeable in the realm of Digital Payments, where retail merchants and customers transact through eCommerce, which has the greatest number of use cases for Open Banking. These includ