Tencent, Geely win joint bid to provide Wi-Fi on high-speed trains

Automaker Geely and IT giant Tencent have won a joint bid to buy 49 percent of the equity of the company Train Network, a subsidiary of China Railway Corporation and sole provider of Wi-Fi services on China's high-speed trains, reports thepaper.cn.

The logos of Geely (above) and Tencent (below). [File photo: VCG]

Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Zhejiang Geely Holding Group plan to use the train's Wi-Fi network to provide passengers with a platform offering value-added services including ticketing, online shopping, tourism, and catering services.

Wi-Fi access is currently available on the latest generation of high-speed trains running between Shanghai and Beijing.

China has the world's longest high-speed rail network, and is expected to have 38,000 kilometers of high-speed rail track by 2025. In 2017, three billion passenger trips were made on China's railways, with more than half made using high-speed trains.