End of an Era: China Mobile Officially Shuts Down 'Monternet' and Other Legacy Services

The Curtain Falls on an Era

At midnight on April 30, 2026, five products under China Mobile were officially taken offline and ceased service. The most nostalgic among them was undoubtedly the termination of Monternet's nationwide SMS and MMS services. After more than 25 years of operation, this brand — which once introduced hundreds of millions of Chinese users to the mobile internet — has finally reached its end.

According to reports, China Mobile had already issued a notice back in March this year, announcing that due to adjustments in product operations strategy, five products — "He Shenghuo" (And Life), "Nongxintong" (Agricultural Information Service), "Mobile Market," "12590 Voice Magazine," and "Monternet Nationwide SMS and MMS Services" — would be collectively decommissioned.

Monternet: The Pioneer of China's Mobile Internet

Looking back, Monternet was born in 2000, with its name derived from the combination of "Mobile" and "Internet," symbolizing the convergence of mobile and internet technologies. As China Mobile's unified brand for mobile data services aimed at consumers, Monternet encompassed a wide range of information services including SMS, MMS, mobile web browsing (WAP), mobile games, and ringtone and wallpaper downloads.

In the era dominated by feature phones, Monternet was virtually the only window through which ordinary users could access the mobile internet. Users browsed news through WAP portals, downloaded ringtones and wallpapers, and subscribed to weather forecasts — functions that seem extremely basic today but were exciting "cutting-edge technology" at the time. More importantly, Monternet pioneered the business model of carrier-and-third-party service provider (SP) collaboration, catalyzing the rise of a large wave of early internet companies. Major portal websites such as Sina, Sohu, and NetEase were all key participants in the Monternet ecosystem.

At its peak in 2009, Monternet had approximately 90 million monthly active users, making it one of China's largest mobile data service platforms.

From Glory to Sunset: The Inevitability of Technological Iteration

However, the tide of technology waits for no one. The iPhone debuted in 2007, Android was released in 2008, and the smartphone era rapidly unfolded. With the successive rollout of 3G and 4G networks, the way users accessed information and entertainment underwent a fundamental transformation — native apps, with their richer interactive experiences and more powerful functionality, completely displaced the WAP portal's living space.

Monternet's trajectory of decline is clearly traceable:

• December 2019: Monternet's trending news service officially ceased operations, marking the end of its content portal function.
• August 2025: SMS and MMS services provided by some SP companies through Monternet were gradually discontinued.
• April 2026: Monternet's nationwide SMS and MMS services were completely taken offline, signaling the end of the brand's mission.

The other products decommissioned in the same batch similarly reflect the traces of technological change. "12590 Voice Magazine" was once an innovative attempt to let users listen to news via phone calls, while "Mobile Market" represented China Mobile's effort to build its own app store — but none of them could ultimately withstand the seismic shifts in the industry ecosystem.

Lessons for Today's AI Wave

The rise and fall of Monternet holds profound implications for the AI industry, which is currently in a period of explosive growth.

First, the lifecycle of platform-based products depends on the underlying technology paradigm. Monternet was built on 2G/2.5G networks and feature phones. When the underlying infrastructure upgraded to 4G plus smartphones, the application layer was inevitably restructured. Today, large language models and generative AI are reshaping human-computer interaction. Whether many existing app formats will face a similar fate in the future is a question worthy of deep reflection across the industry.

Second, carrier-dominated content ecosystems will ultimately give way to open markets. Monternet was essentially a carrier "walled garden" content distribution system, while the app stores of the smartphone era established a more open ecosystem. In the AI era, how to build a healthy and sustainable ecosystem model while avoiding the pitfalls of closed platforms is a challenge all participants need to consider.

Final Thoughts

For many users born in the 1980s and 1990s, Monternet represented more than just a telecom service — it was a collective memory of their "mobile internet awakening." Those days of logging into WAP portals on keypad phones and spending two yuan to download a caller ringtone may be long gone, but they constitute an indispensable chapter in the history of China's mobile internet development.

The wheels of technology roll ever forward, and the sunset of each generation's "Monternet" signals the rise of a new technology platform. Today, as AI large models reshape industries across the board, we may well be standing at the starting point of the next "Monternet moment."