China Unicom (0762), the smaller of the
mainland's two mobile operators, reported unaudited first-quarter net
profit inched up 1.5 percent to 2.02 billion yuan (HK$2.24 billion),
lagging analyst forecasts.
Turnover rose 5.7 percent to 25.49 billion yuan, from a restated 24.13
billion yuan in the first quarter of 2007.
"In the next three to six months, we expect restructuring-related
news flow, rather than operational performance, to be the key share price
driver for Chinese telco stocks," said Morgan Stanley analyst Navin
Killa.
Service revenue for the larger of the company's two mobile networks,
which is based on the GSM technology, rose 6.6 percent year-on- year to
16.26 billion yuan. But average revenue per user on the GSM network fell
5.3 percent to 44.3 yuan.
Average usage per GSM subscriber was 242.4 minutes.
Meanwhile, service revenue for the firm's smaller CDMA mobile network
climbed 1.9 percent to 6.78 billion yuan.
Average revenue per CDMA user was 53.3 yuan per month, and average
usage was 238.4 minutes.
Unicom reported earlier that it added 4.5 million new customers during
the first quarter for a total of 167 million.
Shares in China Unicom rose 2.9 percent to close yesterday at HK$17.18
before the announcement.
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