New | New boss to help mobile operator China Unicom catch up with market rivals
Wang Xiaochu expected to spend more on 4G services and cut tariffs to turn company around
With a new leader at the helm, China Unicom is expected to make steady progress towards a turnaround next year after a costly revamp of its 4G mobile expansion strategy.
The world's fifth-largest mobile network operator by number of subscribers is likely to plough more money into 4G infrastructure deployments, trim its monthly subscriber tariffs and significantly boost marketing initiatives to catch up with the gains made in the market by China Telecom Corp and the vastly larger market leader China Mobile.
Bernstein senior analyst Chris Lane said on Friday China Telecom, which also runs the country's biggest fixed-line network, had outperformed Unicom in the past 12 months by focusing 4G service roll-outs in key urban centres, where wealthier early adopters are located.
"That is what Unicom got wrong, and what we expect new chairman Wang Xiaochu to fix," Lane said. "Unicom made the mistake of chasing the broad 4G coverage that China Mobile was planning."
Wang took over as the chairman and chief executive of Unicom last month, after resigning from those same roles at China Telecom, as part of a reshuffling of leaders at the country's three major state-backed telecommunications network operators.
Chang Xiaobing also left his duties as chairman and chief executive at Unicom to assume the same roles at China Telecom. He had been blamed for Unicom's weak first-half mobile revenue and loss of high-value 4G users.