China’s BeiDou navigation system is poised to attract more domestic users and accelerate its replacement of the US-based GPS system after a state-owned telecom giant teams up with major domestic phone makers mobile phones to popularize the use of its unique short messaging feature.

Under the short messaging service (SMS) communications partnership announced Tuesday, China Telecom, the country’s third-largest mobile communications operator, will work with handset makers to enable its 423 million mobile users to connect to the BeiDou SMS platform in areas without a mobile network. coverage, the company said on its website.

Key phone makers such as Huawei Technologies, Xiaomi, OPPO, Vivo and ZTE have agreed to jointly promote the BeiDou SMS platform, alongside companies such as HaiGe Communication and HaiLiao Satellite Communication.

Full support for the BeiDou SMS function, which connects mobile phones via the system’s satellites, will begin next year, China Telecom said. In November last year, he said one of his goals for this year would be to encourage major domestic phone brands to fully support direct satellite connections.

On Tuesday, China Telecom also established a wholly-owned subsidiary in Shenzhen – Tiantong Satellite Technology (Shenzhen) – to fully support BeiDou’s development, according to corporate information provider Tianyancha.