China’s already competitive mobile payment service industry looks to become even more crowded next year when Apple launches Apple Pay in February 2016.

The launch date was revealed by sources cited in a Dow Jones report, while the Wall Street Journal says Apple has struck deals with China’s four main state-run banks in order to get the service operational by then.

In a May interview with Xinhua, Apple was seen to be pursuing a partnership with Alibaba, which operates the extremely popular mobile payment service Alipay in China. Apple CEO Tim Cook was heard telling Xinhua, “We very much want to get Apple Pay in China.” However, no further updates towards a possible collaboration between the two tech giants have been reported.

Although China is a huge market for Apple, it will face tough competition and regulatory hurdles. Alibaba’s Alipay and TenCent’s TenPay are already well established in China’s mobile payment industry, while China UnionPay has a near monopoly on bank cards.