But the scale of the threat was highlighted earlier this week when the chairman of China Mobile - the world's largest telecomcarrier - said his firm was now more concerned about the challenge posed by Microsoft's Skype and Tencent's WeChat services than it was about competition from China's rival mobile networks.
Meanwhile, the carrier said it's proposed Deutsche Telecom-backed merger with T-Mobile is moving along swimmingly with a definitive proposal filed yesterday.