The mobile business drove the growth, with service revenues in this segment up 23.4 percent to CNY 60.5 billion. China Unicom's mobile customer base increased over 20 percent year-on-year to 219.25 million, and ARPU improved 2.8 percent to CNY 48.1. This was led by a doubling in 3G revenues to CNY 26.7 billion, or 44.5 percent of service revenue. The operator added a net 17.511 million 3G users in the six months, for a total 57.53 million, and 3G subscribers averaged monthly revenue of CNY 91.8 and monthly data use of 138MB. China Unicom said the launch of the first smartphones under CNY 1,000 also drove postpaid growth, with almost 48 percent of 3G customers now on contracts.
At the fixed-line activities, service revenue rose 1.5 percent to CNY 41.5 billion, as growth in broadband offset lower voice revenues. The broadband base rose by 4.876 million in the first half to a total 60.527 million customers.
The company said it will continue to focus on growth in 3G and broadband in H2, with expansion of the HSPA and optical access networks planned, as well as further integration of fixed and mobile services.
