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China Unicom, full name China United Telecommunications Corporation, 中国联通, SEHK: 0762 SSE: 600050 NYSE: CHU, is a telecommunication operator in the People's Republic of China. 52.6% of the company is effectively held by the state-owned China Unicom (BVI) Limited and China United Telecommunications Corporation Limited, while the remainder is traded on the Shenzhen, Hong Kong and New York stock exchanges.
China Unicom was founded as a state-owned corporation, established on July 19, 1994, by the then Ministry of Electronic Industry (now Ministry of Information Industry) and approved by the State Council.
Started as a wireless paging and GSM mobile operator, it currently provides a wide range of services including nationwide GSM and CDMA mobile networks, long-distance, local calling, data communication, Internet services and IP telephony in mainland China, and has operated a CDMA network in Macau since 18 October 2006. As of the end of April 2008, the company had 125 million GSM subscribers and 43 million CDMA subscribers[1].
Compared to other mobile providers China Unicom is ranked as the second-largest CDMA provider in the world and the third-biggest mobile provider.
[edit] Merger with China Netcom
On June 2 2008, China Unicom announced its intention to sell its CDMA business and assets to China Telecom for a combined total of 110 billion RMB [2] and to merge the remainder of the company, in a share swap valued at USD $56.3 billion (based on Unicom's stock last traded price) on June 2, 2008, with China Netcom[3]
[edit] Hong Kong operations
In February 2000 China Unicom became incorporated in Hong Kong and was listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong on 22 June 2000. They are an MVNO running on Three's 2G network. They are the only provider to sell SIMs that provide native phone numbers on both sides of the border (charging slightly higher rates than local while in the mainland, but cheaper than roaming with another provider).
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ China Unicom Subscriber Data
- ^ China Netcom / China Unicom Press Release about Merger
- ^ China telecom companies agree to $56 billion merger. Houston Chronicle. Retrieved on 2008-06-10.
[edit] External links
