telecom - Ringtones, the new mobile cash cow

SMS's might be a relatively primitive tool, in China they have been a major source of revenue of many of the telecom providers. Initially the two mobile telecom providers passed on most of that income to the content providers, but since they decided a few years ago to rake in 80 percent of that revenue themselves, SMS has greatly contributed to the bottomline of the telecom providers.
Now, notes Reuters, ringtones have arrived as a way to diversify that income. Launched in 2003, it has become a hit overnight:

China Mobile, the world's biggest wireless operator by subscribers, said in March that "new" businesses, consisting of data and content, grew 59 percent and accounted for a fifth of revenue in 2005, versus 15.5 percent in 2004.
Within that total, ringback tone revenue was one of the fastest-growing segments, quadrupling to 3.42 billion yuan ($427 million) in 2005 from just 848 million yuan the previous year.

The growth figures for China Unicom have even been higher, be it on a lower level.