A rapid rise in mobile-phone user numbers saw China Unicom post strong operating revenue growth in the past quarter but analysts warn pursuit of market share threatens its bottom line.
China's second largest mobile-phone operator posted operating revenue of 10.44 billion yuan (about HK$9.78 billion) in the June to last month period from 17.99 billion yuan in the first six months of the year.
Revenue from Unicom's mobile business for the first nine months reached 22.13 billion, 77.84 per cent of group revenue.
'GSM cellular business continued its rapid growth and the total aggregated number of GSM subscribers reached 36.14 million,' the company said.
Analysts had forecast Unicom would post strong mobile subscribers growth but warned aggressive promotion tactics would hit earnings.
'Although we expect headline numbers to appear robust, we remain concerned over the underlying health of China Unicom's CDMA business,' ABN Amro telecoms analyst Joe Locke had said.
'We believe that the company is aggressively pursuing state-dictated targets with little regard for underlying economic benefits to shareholders.'