China's largest reseller of mobile handsets, Beijing Digital Telecom, has contracted Siemens (SI) Networks to commercially deploy the first digital rights management protected Chinese mobile full-track music download service.

Liu Dong Hai, Chairman of Bejing Digital Telecom, says, "We view securing mobile music downloading as one of the key revenue drivers for the future of mobile applications and value added services. We value Siemens as a globally recognized and experienced managed services partner, and therefore chose Siemens to provide us with a leading mobile music service."

Under the agreement, Siemens will operate and provide its Music2You platform to BDT. With M2Y, BDT customers will be able to select music titles from a comprehensive catalog, and then download the complete version, with CD sound quality, straight onto their mobile phone.

BDT is launching the new music download service on January 31, 2007, in time for the Chinese New Year festivities. Titles from a number of local and international labels will be available to download via China Mobile's WAP portal. This means that more than 250 million customers will have access to the new music service – a gigantic potential market.

Unlike its local rivals, the Siemens M2Y complies with the DRM standards of the music industry, which protects music files against unauthorized copying. Siemens M2Y will implement the DRM and Java client from SDC, a leading DRM company, continuing the successful partnership between these two companies that has seen mobile music services launched and operational with a number of operators since 2003. Siemens says it is the first supplier to install a piracy-proof music download service in China.