Long-distance carrier Elephant Talk Communications Inc. announced it purchased Chinese wireless messaging company General System Technology Ltd., known as WestSMS. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“SMS is the most exciting and cost-effective direct marketing and advertising method available to business. It can be interactive like the Web, has an enormous reach like television, targets users like direct mail, and is ideal for brand reinforcement,” said Russelle Choi, Elephant Talk’s chairman and chief executive officer. “Most of the existing SMS service providers are focusing their resources on addressing the entertainment needs of mobile-phone subscribers, while acknowledging the need of expanding market share in the area. Our long-term strategy is to establish our core competence in developing business applications and serving the business needs of large corporate clients by leveraging the cost-effective function of SMS and our expertise in wireless and the telecommunications industry.”
WestSMS has more than 1 million registered subscribers and recently signed a deal with China Eastern Airline’s Eastern Miles Program to provide customer relationship management and marketing solutions to its frequent flyer program using text messaging. Elephant Talk primarily focuses on terminating U.S. long-distance traffic in Asian countries, including China.
The deal is the latest example of the growing nature of China’s wireless data industry. On Monday, Sohu.com, a Chinese mobile value-added services company, agreed to acquire Beijing G. Feel Technology Co., a Chinese company that provides value-added mobile data services for WAP. In addition, Chinese wireless content vendor Linktone recently held its initial public offering on Wall Street.
