When 263.net -- the website with the largest number of e-mail users on the Chinese mainland -- suddenly announced a few days ago that it was canceling its free e-mail service, the move evoked considerable response among peer enterprises and web users. Shadowed by a cyber downturn during past few months, various .com companies have been looking for a chance to make such a move, but it was 263.net that played "point man" when it resolutely declared a paid e-mail service. In an interview with china.org.cn, the COO of 263.net, Huang Mingsheng, gives his reasons.

First of all, in regard to the history of e-mail, Huang Mingsheng said that since 1998 no great progress has been made in the field because of the no-fee policy that has made enterprises unwilling to invest in upgrading their e-mail services. In the meantime, each user was usually applying for several e-mail boxes, doubling or tripling operation costs and putting great pressure on enterprises.

Will users enjoy better services after paid e-mail? Yes, Huang said, promising that 263.net will definitely improve its services. But he also said that the limits of technology prevent e-mail operators from completely eliminating junk mail. The task of an e-mail provider is to reduce the possibility of junk mail as much as possible. Junk mail not only harms its users but also damages the image of 263.net abroad. Now, 263.net is negotiating with foreign counterparts for being guaranteed its normal send and receive business without being treated as a netblock.

To maintain the stability of paid e-mail boxes, 263.net is adding a mail backup system and will be giving top priority to the quality and services of its mail box, Huang said.

On the question of a trend for portal web stations to provide paid e-mail for profit, Huang said:

• In the short term, a paid e-mail system will not turn a profit, but it can reduce lots of unnecessary expenditures. The most optimistic forecast is to stop losing money in two years and to get into the black in three years.

• The goal of 263.net is to become a telecom operator instead of a portal web station. In that regard, 263.net has turned over some aspects of its business -- for instance, some information services -- that have proved unprofitable to cooperative partners in a better position to earn yield.

(By Zhang Xiaochong, china.org.cn staff reporter, translated by Li Liangdu, March 23, 2002)