CHL China Mobile Limited

BEIJING, June 21 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- PacificNet Inc. (NASDAQ:PACT), a leading provider of Interactive Voice Response (IVR) platforms, CRM and telemarketing services, call center, ecommerce, and Value-Added Services (VAS) in China, announced today that its subsidiary, Guangzhou 3G, was granted a nationwide IVR access license from China Mobile (NYSE:CHL) (http://www.chinamobile.com/). This nationwide access license will allow Guangzhou 3G to expand its IVR telecom services offerings to a wider audience and will allow further expansion of the "iPACT" VAS program. The granting and approval of this nationwide IVR value-added telecom license is under strict control by the Chinese government and China Mobile with high-level of entry barrier including the requirement of significant registered capital, relevant telecom services experiences, investment in IVR telecom equipment, security control, high quality customer services and complaint management. IVR, which stands for Interactive Voice Response, is a general term for mobile phone-based voice value-added services. By dialing a designated number, mobile phone users are able to listen to or send information or even participate in interactive activities like chatting and dating. Due to language character issues, IVR has much greater acceptance in China than text messaging. Voice Magazine is a voice value-added service provided by China Mobile to all of its customers offering lifestyle VAS services related to culture, dating, society, leisure, and entertainment. Based on voice content, it is designed to provide the users with an information service platform integrating both voice and SMS. Users are able to obtain voice information as well as SMS content services for either themselves or others by dialing the voice access number. These types of voice-based services have proven very popular in the Chinese market. Through partnerships between operators and service providers (SP), China's IVR market is developing rapidly and our market share continues to grow. IVR is currently a leading sector of the VAS market and is projected to grow steadily over the next few years. According to industry statistics, the IVR market size reached RMB 2 billion in 2005 with 23 million users. IVR has become a key value-added service after SMS and its market share is expected to expand in 2006, far beyond services such as WAP and MMS. As one of the largest mobile SP and telephone information service providers operating across multiple provinces, Guangzhou 3G has launched value-added services in over 20 cities throughout China. As early as 2001, Guangzhou 3G brought forth the concept of "Vstone" and promoted it as a new VAS brand concept all over the country. Guangzhou 3G has established quality partnerships with the operators in China and has accumulated in excess of one million users. With the support from China Mobile and its regional branches, Guangzhou 3G has deployed regional IVR businesses in Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Qinghai, Guansu, Tianjin, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guizhou, Yunnan, Guangxi, Hunan, Hubei, Chongqing, Shannxi, Guangdong, and Hebei. With its solid operation experience and market-leading business products, Guangzhou 3G actively markets locally and as such, has achieved a proportional share in the overall market. Wang Jianzhou, Chairman and CEO of China Mobile, stated, "China Mobile has always attached great importance to the strategic relationships with our partners to accomplish win-win cooperation and mutual benefit. We will continue to strengthen the communication between China Mobile and our partners to provide improved and more diversified services to them. China Mobile plans to join hands with China's SPs to create richer and practical contents tailored to our existing and potential customers; meanwhile, we are going to be more disciplined and strive to maintain a healthy industrial environment in order to ensure high-quality services while taking our services to a higher level." Super Wang, General Manager of PacificNet's subsidiary Guangzhou 3G, stated, "We are delighted to obtain this nationwide IVR access qualification from China Mobile. This type of nationwide IVR license is very difficult to obtain as they are issued with strict requirements and in limited quantity by the PRC government and China Mobile. We believe our nationwide IVR access platform will be a key revenue and growth point for us, and will further strengthen PacificNet and Guangzhou 3G as the leading provider in the value- added service market in China. In addition to this nationwide IVR license, we initiated the iPACT Program in 2005, a strategic IVR alliance aiming to deliver all of the hardware, software, application, and content for VAS including a variety of IVR and other wireless and fixed-line VAS content to qualified VAS-Alliance partners on a profit sharing basis. Under a chain of unified service standards under the iPACT brand, we look forward to revenue growth, market share improvement, and strengthened partnerships with the major telecom operators and local IVR service providers in China." Tony Tong, Chairman and CEO of PacificNet, stated, "By obtaining this new nationwide IVR license, we believe PacificNet is even better positioned to capture a significant share of this rapidly growing market. IVR value added services have proven very popular in the Chinese market and we see this as an opportunity to further expand our offerings to a wider audience." About China Mobile China Mobile (NYSE:CHL) (http://www.chinamobileltd.com/) is a leading mobile telecommunications operator in China, providing mobile voice and data telecommunications and related services to all 31 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions in the mainland as well as being one of the major mobile telecommunications service providers in Hong Kong. As of 30 April 2006, China Mobile had an aggregate mobile telecommunications subscriber base of nearly 265 million, the largest worldwide. About PacificNet PacificNet Inc. (http://www.pacificnet.com/), through its subsidiaries, invests in and operates companies that provide outsourcing and Value-Added Services (VAS) in China, such as call centers, telemarketing, CRM, interactive voice response (IVR), mobile applications, and communications product distribution services. PacificNet's clients include the leading telecos, banks, insurance, travel, marketing, and business services companies, and telecom consumers, in Greater China. PacificNet's corporate clients include China Telecom, China Mobile, Unicom, PCCW, Hutchison Telecom, Bell24, SONY, TCL, Huawei, American Express, Citibank, HSBC, Bank of China, Bank of East Asia, DBS, TNT, and Hong Kong Government. PacificNet employs over 2,300 staff in its various subsidiaries throughout China with offices in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and branch offices in 26 provinces in China, and is headquartered in Minneapolis USA and Hong Kong. About Guangzhou 3G Guangzhou 3G (http://www.vs366.com/) is one of the leading value-added telecom and information services providers in China with both voice (IVR and call center) and data (SMS, MMS, WAP, JAVA, GPRS) connection to the four major telecom operators: China Mobile, China Unicom, China Telecom, and China Netcom, covering both mobile and fixed-line networks. Guangzhou 3G also offers a wide variety of IVR and other wireless and fixed-line, value-added telecom services including color ring back tone (CRBT) services, background music (BGM) services, VICQ mobile instant messaging services, sports and soccer news, weather forecasts, stock market, music and mobile karaoke, mobile TV, games, entertainment, chatline and dating services. Guangzhou 3G currently employs 238 staff and has offices in 26 provinces in China. Safe Harbor Statement This Company's announcement contains forward-looking statements. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about our beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, PacificNet's historical and possible future losses, limited operating history, uncertain regulatory landscape in China, fluctuations in quarterly operating results. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in PacificNet's Form 10K and other filings with the SEC. Contact: PacificNet USA office: Jacob Lakhany, Tel: +1-605-229-6678 PacificNet Beijing office: Ada Yu, Tel: +86 (10) 64954330 ext 158 Rm. 2309, 23/F, Building A, TimeCourt, No.6 Shuguang Xili, Chaoyang District, Beijing, China 100028 DATASOURCE: PacificNet Inc. CONTACT: Jacob Lakhany of PacificNet USA office, +1-605-229-6678, or Ada Yu of PacificNet Beijing office, +86-10-64954330 ext 158 Web site: http://www.pacificnet.com/ http://www.chinamobileltd.com/ http://www.vs366.com/

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