The BBC has signed a deal to reach 200 million Chinese mobile phone users as it continues to export its new media services around the world.

A tie-up between commercial arm BBC Worldwide and China's largest website, Sina.com, will enable Chinese mobile users to receive a topical daily email from the BBC to help them learn English.

Subscribers will then log on to Sina.com to see extended material provided by BBC World Service on a range of business, sport and lifestyle topics.

Martin Mulloy, the head of BBC Worldwide's English language education service, said the deal was the first of several that would extent the corporation's brand into China.

"The project with the World Service and Sina.com to create this imaginative mobile and innovative mobile phone telephone service is one of several new initiatives we are pursuing in China," he said.

"China is the world's largest emerging market for English language learning and we are confident that this service will help to extend the BBC brand significantly."

The agreement is the latest in a string of overseas deals agreed by BBC Worldwide. Last month it signed a contract with a mobile phone operator in India to provide breaking news.

The presence of the BBC in China has been a sensitive political issue since Rupert Murdoch pulled the plug on BBC Worldwide's broadcasts to the country in an effort to pander the Chinese government, which was concerned about the tone of some of the corporation's news reports.

China is the world's largest mobile phone and broadcasting market and manufacturers and broadcasters are desperate to secure a foothold in the country, despite the obstacles posed by its communist rulers.

"China's ascension to World Trade Organisation and the country's successful bid for the 2008 Olympics has generated a strong desire among Chinese people to learn English, especially among the young and business community," said Raymond Li, the editor of BBCChinese.com.