According to Ouyang Weimin, the director of the Payment System Department of the People's Bank of China, PBOC plans to issue licenses to Chinese online third-party payment platforms to bring more competition and a higher level of security into this sector of the industry.

Taobao.com, the Internet shopping subsidiary of the Chinese B2B e-commerce group Alibaba, has announced that it will cooperate with China Mobile to launch a new mobile phone short message-based price comparison service.

According to China Mobile's Shanghai branch, its regulations related to micropayments made with mobile phones have been completed and consumers in Shanghai will soon be able to pay with mobile phones in McDonald's and Starbucks.

By Francis Peters Although Internet usage in China has boomed over the past ten years, the nation's retail e-commerce is still in startup mode, particularly compared to the United States.