Eyeing 34 Million Chinese Outbound Travelers Market To Use Their Services
BEIJING, Jan. 9 /Xinhua-PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Smooth Global (China) Holdings, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: SMGH) ("SMGH") today announced that it's subsidiary, Beijing GRT Information Services Limited ("Beijing GRT") has signed contracts with eight sales agents located at Nanjing, Urumchi, Hangzhou, Zhengzhou, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Chongqing and Jinan to provide International Call Forwarding Services ("ICFS") to outbound travelers. The sales agents agreed to pay SMGH a fixed one-time fee of RMB 240,000 for the joining fee and agreed to purchase a minimum number of business travel mobile SIM cards.
Before the addition of these eight sales agents, Beijing GRT had one branch established in Shanghai, which provides ICFS to 2 countries namely Hong Kong and Thailand. The Shanghai branch has recorded unaudited revenues of $1.57 million for the year 2007. The newly signed agents, namely Guangzhou and Chongqing, have the same characteristic business environment as Shanghai. Therefore if Shanghai is used as a base for the calculation of potential revenue for the city of Guangzhou and Chongqing, there will be another $3.1 million for the coming 2008 year based on those 2 new agents alone. Revenues from the other six sales agents are expected to be similar.
The Chinese capital city, Beijing, will be the next target for Beijing GRT to open yet another branch for the year 2008. Beijing is expected to bring in revenues exceeding those of Shanghai.
The market for the ICFS will be Chinese residents who travel abroad for business reasons. Between 1999 and 2006, this market grew by 22% annually, increasing from 9 million travelers in 1999 to over 34 million travelers in 2006. Since China has the largest mobile phone subscriber base in the world -- 463 million subscribers at the end of 2006, most of those travelers will be potential subscribers to our ICFS. According to our experience, each ICFS subscriber will spend about RMB 120 each time they travel abroad. Currently, we are not aware of any service provider offering this service in China; therefore, initially our competition will come from the roaming services provided by the mobile carriers.
Ms. Zheng Shuying, President of SMGH, commented, "Since our introduction of International Call Forwarding Services in Shanghai city, we experienced a tremendous reception of our services. I am excited that we will have another 8 cities to serve those travelers who need our services. Our company will expand services to other cities in order to expand our business and increase our revenues."
About Smooth Global (China) Holdings, Inc.
Smooth Global (China) Holdings, Inc. was organized under the name Bralorne Mining Company (the "Company") under the laws of the State of Nevada on December 2, 1998. On November 2, 2006, The Company acquired all of the outstanding capital stock of Gold Profit (Asia) Group Limited ("Gold Profit"), which owns 100% of the registered capital of Beijing Quan Tong Chang Information Service Limited ("Beijing QTC"). Beijing QTC is a telecommunications service provider that delivers economical voice and data services domestically and internationally throughout China. It is engaged in the business of distributing telephone services through public pay phones and is also in the business of developing Internet phone solutions for commercial customers, focusing on a convenient local, domestic and international long distance call service with competitive price. On July 31, 2007, it changed its name to Smooth Global (China) Holdings, Inc. The Company contracted with the subsidiaries of China Netcom Group Corporation (Hong Kong) Limited (NYSE: CN), namely China Netcom (Shaoxing) Corporation Limited and China Netcom (Guangdong) Corporation Limited to distribute their VoIP call time in China. On October 24, 2007, the Company acquired 100% equity interest on Smooth Global Services Limited, which holds Beijing GRT Information Services Limited ("Beijing GRT"), a company providing International Call Forwarding Services ("ICFS"). Beijing GRT entered into the international call forwarding business by obtaining a license from China Netcom (Group) Company Ltd. Shanghai Branch and a license from China Netcom (Group) Company Ltd. Shaoxing Branch. The licenses were acquired in connection with the purchase by Beijing GRT of 2000 local telephone numbers. The licenses provide that the carriers will facilitate the international call forwarding business of Beijing GRT by (1) waiving all monthly fees for the company's local numbers, (2) guaranteeing Beijing GRT its lowest per-unit fee, and (3) assuring Beijing GRT that it will retain the local numbers for at least three years. The Company will focus international call forwarding to its lines of business.
Forward-looking statements
This report contains "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements other than statements of historical facts included in this report are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, economic and political factors; developments of the Chinese and North American markets and changes in regulatory matters; our business strategies and future plans of operations; the market acceptance and amount of sales of our products and services; our historical losses; the competitive environment within the industries in which we compete; and our ability to raise additional capital, currently needed for expansion.
The Company cautions that forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements due to several important factors.
For more information, please contact:
Mr. David Guan
Smooth Global (China) Holdings, Inc.
Tel: +86-10-6496-0170
Email: BLNM8899@yahoo.com
Web: http://www.smgh.net
