China Unicom and Telefonica have entered into a cooperation and share swap agreement. China Unicom and Telefonica will each buy USD 1 billion worth of shares in each other. Following the transaction, China Unicom's shareholding in Telefonica will be approximately 0.88 percent and Telefonica's shareholding in China Unicom will increase to about 8 percent from 5.38 percent currently. The companies plan to cooperate in areas such as the joint acquisition of infrastructure and equipment for customers; the joint development of wireless service platforms; the joint provision of services to multinational enterprises; roaming; R&D; sharing of best practices and technical, operational and management expertise; the joint development of a set of strategic initiatives within the framework of network and technology development; as well an exchange program for managers from both companies.
