Competition in Chinese WiFi market heats up. (Photo : Reuters)
Chinese Internet companies are not the only ones offering free WiFi services anymore. Ping An Insurance Group has also started to offer the same services through its free WiFi app since Jan. 27.
Ping An's clients can enjoy unlimited wireless Internet while non-clients can still get free WiFi, capped at 500 million hours yearly.
The company's chief information officer, Jessica Tan, announced that the company devoted significant amounts of money for the project. The company spent more than 100 million yuan to make the free WiFi services possible.
The new app is currently covering access to more than 10 million hotspots around China. By the end of March, 15 more major airports would be covered.
The officer said that the company does not mind probably losing money over this project or not earning profits, because the goal is to increase its clients and promote its financial services through mobile technology.
This shows how competitive the free WiFi market has become in China. Significant changes have been observed ever since the arrival of mobile Internet.
"The lack of a mature business model in the past made the WiFi market unattractive to the capital market," iiMedia CEO Zhang Yi said, claiming that with the advent of the mobile Internet, companies have begun to establish themselves as mobile portals.
However, Ping An's move can be considered a first, since it is not an Internet company.
