Marbridge Daily

Unicom Targets 10 Mln 3G Subs with RMB 100+ ARPU in 2010

Netease Tech, 3/24/10

At China Unicom's (NYSE: CHU; 0762.HK; 600050.SH) 2009 earnings meeting on March 24, chairman and CEO Chang Xiaobing said that in order to ensure that the operator meets its goal of reaching 10 mln 3G subscribers with ARPUs of more than RMB 100 this year, Unicom will consider increasing its subsidies to handset channels. Chang also announced that in order to speed up 3G terminal development, China Unicom will focus more on releasing mid- to low-end smartphones, including several smartphones priced at RMB 2,000 or less, to be released in the near future.

Unicom VP Lu Yimin said at the conference that Unicom spent RMB 350 mln on 3G terminal subsidies in 2009, and did not allocate any subsidy to 2G terminals.

Chang Xiaobing said that Unicom and Apple had reached an agreement to keep iPhone sales figures for China confidential, and that no new figures would be released for the time being. He said, however, that he believed that the reason for slow iPhone sales was not the handset price, but rather the need for adjustments to iPhone subscription plans.

Regarding the question of Unicom's failure to meet its previously announced target to grow its 3G subscriber base by 1 mln users each month, Chang explained that Unicom is more concerned with developing 3G data users. "If we were only trying to develop 3G voice users, we could have hit this target a while ago," said Chang. While Unicom has raised its threshold for 3G users, Chang said that from a long-term standpoint, Unicom stands to benefit by focusing on developing subscribers who use data services.

When asked whether or not Unicom would purchase shares in banks in order to expand mobile payment and other services, Chang said the operator currently has no plans to acquire equity in banks, and will focus instead on developing 3G mobile e-commerce through other forms of cooperation.

Keywords: Lu Yimin Chang Xiaobing China Unicom ARPU subsidy iPhone target wireless 3G 0762.HK 600050.SH CHU m-commerce mobile subscribers