China Unicom plans big push into online services amid rumours of telecommunications industry revamp
China Unicom is gearing up to expand its nascent online services business and accelerate the roll-out of 4G mobile network services, after the company posted a 4.5 per cent year-on-year increase in net profit in the six months ended June 30.
China Unicom is gearing up to expand its nascent online services business and accelerate the roll-out of 4G mobile network services, after the company posted a 4.5 per cent year-on-year increase in net profit in the six months ended June 30.
The world's fourth-largest mobile network operator by number of subscribers will introduce new online financial services, following its early success in the first half.
Lu Yimin, president at Unicom, said yesterday that the firm's business-to-business e-commerce service Woego, which focuses on small- and medium-sized companies, recorded 10 billion yuan (HK$12 billion) in transactions during that period. "We intend to offer micro-finance and collateral services to this market," Lu said.
"We now also have a mobile payments licence," said Lu, noting that such a service would complement its other financing activity.
The operator had partnered with Shenzhen-based China Merchants Bank to offer online financing to consumers, a venture that had 1.88 million registered users at the end of June.
Unicom chief financial officer Li Fushen said the tower-sharing joint venture between China's big-three operators provided the company with nine billion yuan savings in capital expenses in the first half. Li said Unicom could raise by 30 billion yuan its projected 100 billion yuan capital spending this year to speed up its 4G, broadband and fibre-optic system deployments in the second half.
Those announcements, however, were nearly upstaged at Unicom's press conference yesterday by questions from reporters about the whereabouts of chairman and chief executive Chang Xiaobing, who was not at the event.
Speculation has been rife in mainland media about an impending leadership shuffle at China Mobile, China Telecom and Unicom.
Lu said Chang had to attend an important meeting. He declined to say what the meeting was about.
"We do not have any news or announcement," said Lu, when pressed about rumours that the chairmen of Unicom and China Telecom will switch organisations and take each other's jobs.
China Mobile chairman Xi Guoha is expected to retire soon and be replaced at China Mobile by Ministry of Industry and Information Technology vice-minister Shang Bing, a Bloomberg report said yesterday, citing persons with knowledge of the matter.
Unicom posted a first-half net profit of 6.99 billion yuan, up from 6.69 billion yuan a year earlier, on significant cuts to its operating expenses, and its strong mobile and fixed-line broadband businesses.
Revenue fell 3.3 per cent to 144.68 billion yuan, from 149.57 billion a year ago.