Bestpay Co, a China Telecom unit specialized in e-commerce and mobile payments, expects its transaction volume to see a two-fold increase year-on-year to reach 53.6 billion yuan this year, company officials said.

The company's number of users has surpassed 14 million, an almost nine-fold increase over the previous year, said Gao Hongliang, general manager of Bestpay, at a Beijing news briefing on Thursday.

Bestpay was established in March 2011. The company achieved a payment license for non-financial organizations from the People's Bank of China in December 2011.

Chinese telecom carriers, including China Telecom and China Mobile, have stepped up efforts to set up specialized units for specific businesses.

Li Yue, chief executive officer of China Mobile, said recently that the company is preparing to set up a mobile Internet firm and a mobile machine-to-machine company in the near future.

China Telecom also achieved progress in setting up specialized firms. Tv189.com, a mobile video unit, boasted an estimated corporate value of 1.9 billion yuan.

shenjingting@chinadaily.com.cn