BEIJING — China's State-run Xinhua News Agency on Monday launched an e-reading platform with telecom equipment maker Datang, setting foot in the country's increasingly competitive e-reading industry.

Beijing Xinhua Ruide Technology Co Ltd, established by Beijing Xinhua Multimedia Data Ltd and Datang Telecom Technology Co Ltd, on Monday officially opened the e-reading platform that was on trial operation for three months.

"We hope the State-owned background of both Xinhua and Datang can make us an authoritative choice for users," said Yang Yong, general manager of Xinhua Ruide.

He said the company engages in different parts of the e-reading industrial chain to be a competitive player. The company owns an e-reading platform with different kinds of content, providing news information from Xinhua, and also cooperates with hardware makers to provide e-reading devices with its software, said Yang.

Xinhua Ruide's move came after more companies entered the e-reading market and as the existing ones are trying to take a larger piece of the pie by expanding in the industrial chain.

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Shanda Literature Ltd - an online literature subsidiary of the Chinese Internet company Shanda Interactive Entertainment, for example, launched an e-reader priced at 999 yuan last year, after it set up an online bookstore.

Publishing houses and telecom carrier China Mobile also made initiatives in the industry by launching their own e-readers.

Xinhua Ruide, established in September 2010, said its platform already has 3,000 registered users after the trial operation. Most of them are corporate users and users from governments and armies.

This kind of user is currently the focus of the company, but in the future it will expand to consumers, said Yang.

According to domestic research company Analysys International, 1.46 million units of e-readers are expected to be sold this year, a year-on-year increase of 38.6 percent.

"Xinhua Ruide does have advantages in attracting government users, but in terms of consumers, it is the companies with sound brands and well-established sales networks that are going to win," said Sun Peilin, an analyst at Analysys International.