Shanghai, Aug. 13: In an apparent bid to extend its control over the Internet and cash in on the rapid growth of mobile devices, China plans to create its own government-controlled search engine.
The new venture would be fresh competition for Baidu.com, a private company that runs China’s dominant search engine. Baidu has seen its market share grow since Google retreated from the mainland earlier this year.
State-owned China Mobile — the world’s biggest cellphone carrier — and Xinhua, China’s official state-run news agency, signed an agreement on Thursday to create a joint venture called the Search Engine New Media Inter-national Communications Co. This moves comes after the Chinese government’s show down with Google, which had diverted Chinese users to its Hong Kong site.
China already has the world’s largest number of Internet users, more than 420 million, and also the largest number of mobile phone subscribers, more than 800 million. Private startup companies play a big role on the web in China, but the government maintains tight control over Internet firms and censors what it deems to be dangerous or sensitive content.
Now, though, analysts say Beijing is pushing state-run companies to take a more active role online. China Central Television, the nati-on’s dominant broadcaster, is trying to develop its own online video site.