MySpace.com’s Chinese operation is looking into starting an online messaging service as it attempts to break the stranglehold that a Chinese software company has on one of the world’s largest Internet markets.

MySpace China, partially owned by Beverly Hills-based MySpace.com, a unit of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., is testing the service’s beta version and is looking to add additional features such as video, according to a Reuters report.

The service, however, will face stiff competition from Chinese software company Tencent Holdings, which already operates a Chinese messaging service and controls nearly 80 percent of the market. Microsoft’s online communication tool, MSN Messenger, also has a share of the market.

MySpace China was launched in April. At the time Murdoch said he was looking for a way to enter China and that his wife, Chinese native Wendi Deng, would play a key role in launching the service. China has 137 million Internet users, behind only the United States.