MACROKIOSK to be first M'sian SMS gateway provider in China

Gold IS Bhd's 70% subsidiary Macro Kiosk Bhd, which is waiting for approval for listing on the Mesdaq Market, is set to become the first Malaysian SMS gateway provider in China through two joint ventures.

The mobile technology enabler, through its wholly owned subsidiary Macro Kiosk Pte Ltd (MPKL), signed the JV agreements with Beijing JieChuang Age Tech Co Ltd and VogueZone Beijing Tech Co Ltd last month.

"With these joint ventures in place, Macro Kiosk is set to become the first Malaysian SMS gateway provider in China," Macro Kiosk chief executive officer Kenny Goh said at a media briefing in Kuala Lumpur on March 7.

Macro Kiosk has to date invested a total of RM2.74 million in the two JVs, in which it has a 49% stake each.

"For the China investment, all the funding was generated internally. We are basically starting from ground zero in China as we are not buying over any existing company and we are applying for a fresh Service Provider licence from the Chinese government as well," he said.

Goh added that Macro Kiosk had invested about RM2.30 million in R&D since 2000.

"Our Malaysian operations contribute 90% to our revenue, but within the next three to five years, China will be the significantly higher contributor. We will maintain Malaysia as our base but we are aiming to expand throughout the Asia-Pacific region by year 2006," he added.

Goh said China was a fast-growing market with 262 million mobile subscribers and 152 million SMS users in 2003, surpassing Hong Kong, Australia and Taiwan.

"China is set to have 361 million mobile subscribers in 2005 with 255 million of them being SMS users. The bulk of our revenue from China will initially come from data download, ring tones and only later from peer-to-peer communication," said Goh.

Meanwhile, he said Macro Kiosk was targeting to list on Mesdaq by the first half of the year after having submitted the application to the Securities Commission last August. It expects to raise RM19 million from the IPO.

Goh said for the year ended Jan 31, 2004 (FY04), Macro Kiosk posted a net profit of RM700, 000 on the back of a revenue of RM6 million. "We have not finalised the figures for FY05, but we expect the percentage to rise by three digits for revenue and profit," he said.