Struggling operator Unicom likely to shine with China Tower IPO

China Unicom, the world’s sixth-largest wireless network operator by number of subscribers, is predicted to profit the most from the highly anticipated public listing of state-backed China Tower Corp, the mainland telecommunications industry’s infrastructure-sharing joint venture, analysts said.

Their forecast followed the reaffirmation made last month by China Tower chairman Liu Aili that the company was keen to pursue an initial public offering by the end of next year.

“Unicom would see the biggest benefit from that listing,” Bernstein Research senior analyst Chris Lane told the South China Morning Post.

That represents much-needed good news for investors of struggling Unicom, which had been losing subscribers as it lagged China Mobile and China Telecom in 4G network development. It has also seen negative profit growth in the past several quarters.

“Any higher valuation of the tower company would have a bigger impact on Unicom’s lower overall market capitalisation,” Lane said.