Shenzhen Telecom's hotline number 114 will soon provide entertainment, shopping and other information to callers, the company announced Tuesday.

The company is upgrading the 12-year-old hotline number 114.

Operators of the hotline can forward a call directly to the number requested and thus save the caller time and money.

Hotline operators can also send telephone numbers and addresses to customers' mobile phones upon request.

Shenzhen Telecom hopes to turn 114 into an information platform like Google.

"114 will be more popular than Google because it is more interactive and has a bigger customer group," said a spokesperson for Shenzhen Telecom.

China has only 60 million computers, but it has 750 million phone users.

Companies can have their numbers recommended by Shenzhen Telecom to hotline callers on the payment of a fee.

The spokesperson said over 1,000 companies had signed up with Shenzhen Telecom for the service.

However, the new services provided by 114 could overlap with Shenzhen Telecom's information hotline 160, although the spokesperson said 114 mainly provides services related to phone numbers, while 160 provides comprehensive information.

The 160 number is much more expensive than 114.

The 114 number costs the same as a local phone call, while 160 costs one yuan (US$0.12) per minute plus the local phone call rate.

A local call costs 0.20 yuan for the first three minutes and 0.11 yuan per minute thereafter.

Both 160 and 114 operators can respond to inquiries in English.

(Shenzhen Daily February 23, 2006)