China's internet giant Tencent and carmaker Geely won a joint bid Wednesday to obtain 49 percent stake in a subsidiary of China Railway providing wifi on high-speed trains across China.
Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Zhejiang Geely Holding Group will collaborate with the High Speed Network Technology Company, set up in late 2017 by state-owned China Railway Corporation, to provide wifi solutions and online services on high-speed trains.
Wifi access is already available on China's new-generation Fuxing bullet trains on the Shanghai-Beijing line.
The companies will increase the number of wifi hotspots throughout the high-speed rail network and develop an online platform that offers ticketing, shopping, tourism and catering services, according to a Geely statement.
China has the world's longest high-speed rail network. The country is expected to have 38,000 km of high-speed rail tracks by 2025.
In 2017, a total of 3.04 billion passenger trips were made on railways, and more than 56 percent of those trips were made on high-speed railways.
