Unicom offers cheaper iPhone plan
Source: Bloomberg News |
May 25, 2011, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
CHINA Unicom offered a cheaper iPhone package amid rising competition with China Mobile Ltd in the world's biggest wireless-phone market.
The Beijing-based company started offering a 66-yuan-a-month (US$10) plan for the iPhone after previously setting the lowest-priced package at 96 yuan, President Lu Yimin said yesterday after meeting shareholders in Hong Kong.
Unicom, China's second-biggest mobile-phone operator, beat China Mobile in 2009 to become the first telco on the Chinese mainland to offer the iPhone. The larger rival is boosting investment in its network of wireless hotspots to attract users of Apple Inc's best-selling handset, while China Telecom Corp is also in talks with the United States company to introduce the product.
"It is a trend" for rival carriers to offer services based on the iPhone device, CEO Chang Xiaobing said yesterday. "We don't have a choice in this, and must be ready to face this environment."
Demand for the iPhone will help Unicom exceed its target of adding 25 million customers for its 3G services this year, Lu said.
China Mobile, whose 3G network technology isn't supported by the iPhone, has 4 million subscribers using the Apple handset through the company's network of Wi-Fi hotspots, Chairman Wang Jianzhou said last week. Wang said he expects Apple to develop an iPhone for the 4G technology the telco hopes to commercialize next year.
Unicom, the only telco on the mainland offering the iPhone with a service contract, added 1.82 million 3G subscribers for a total of 20.4 million in April, it said this month. That lagged behind the 29.4 million 3G users for China Mobile, whose total customer base of 606.2 million is almost double Unicom's 323.6 million.
China Telecom, the country's biggest fixed-line carrier, is in talks with Apple to offer a CDMA version of the iPhone, Chairman Wang Xiaochu said last week.
The Beijing-based company started offering a 66-yuan-a-month (US$10) plan for the iPhone after previously setting the lowest-priced package at 96 yuan, President Lu Yimin said yesterday after meeting shareholders in Hong Kong.
Unicom, China's second-biggest mobile-phone operator, beat China Mobile in 2009 to become the first telco on the Chinese mainland to offer the iPhone. The larger rival is boosting investment in its network of wireless hotspots to attract users of Apple Inc's best-selling handset, while China Telecom Corp is also in talks with the United States company to introduce the product.
"It is a trend" for rival carriers to offer services based on the iPhone device, CEO Chang Xiaobing said yesterday. "We don't have a choice in this, and must be ready to face this environment."
Demand for the iPhone will help Unicom exceed its target of adding 25 million customers for its 3G services this year, Lu said.
China Mobile, whose 3G network technology isn't supported by the iPhone, has 4 million subscribers using the Apple handset through the company's network of Wi-Fi hotspots, Chairman Wang Jianzhou said last week. Wang said he expects Apple to develop an iPhone for the 4G technology the telco hopes to commercialize next year.
Unicom, the only telco on the mainland offering the iPhone with a service contract, added 1.82 million 3G subscribers for a total of 20.4 million in April, it said this month. That lagged behind the 29.4 million 3G users for China Mobile, whose total customer base of 606.2 million is almost double Unicom's 323.6 million.
China Telecom, the country's biggest fixed-line carrier, is in talks with Apple to offer a CDMA version of the iPhone, Chairman Wang Xiaochu said last week.
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