Mobile-phone operator China Unicom has sought to quash market speculation of price cuts to attract more users to its troubled code division multiple access (CDMA) network.
'We will not and have no need to increase new subscribers by slashing prices,' China Unicom president Wang Jianzhou said.
China Unicom has a target of 4.5 million CDMA subscribers by the end of the year. Fears of price cuts have been fuelled by data showing 83,000 new users last month, bringing total CDMA subscribers to just 785,000.
No more network capacity is to be leased in the third quarter from the firm's parent China United Telecommunications - also known as Unicom Group.
Capacity of four million subscribers will be leased in the third quarter - the same as in the previous three months.
However, China Unicom chief executive Yang Xianzu remained upbeat about the progress of the CDMA network.
'There is always a gradual process for consumers' recognition when a new network or business rolls out. [The] CDMA network has been launched for half a year and the operation is satisfactory,' he said.
