Chinese number-two operator China Unicom continued to benefit from significant growth in its 3G business during the first quarter of 2012 as it increased revenue and profit for the period.

The operator said it was continuing to “proactively promote 3G handsets to step up the development of 3G contracting subscribers” with handset sales growing significantly during the period. The 3G part of the business was seen as the “the largest driving force” in the company's revenue growth in 2011.

The company also said it had “further accelerated its business development and continued to improve its development quality which resulted in enhancing its market share steadily.”

The operator reported total revenue of CNY61 .2 billion (US$9.7 billion), an increase of 24.8 percent compared to the same period in 2011. This was accompanied by a five-fold increase in profit, which hit CNY1 billion for the quarter.

Revenue from the mobile business increased by 42.3 percent to hit CNY40.45 billion, with service revenue of CNY29.26 billion – up 25.6 percent – and value-added service revenue contributing 39.6 percent of revenue for the mobile business with CNY11.6 billion.

The net addition of mobile subscribers for the period was 9.8 million, bringing the total number of subscribers to 209.5 million, generating monthly ARPU of CNY47.7.

China Unicom’s 3G business continued to grow rapidly, with service revenue of CNY12.53 billion, accounting for 42.8 percent of mobile service revenue, up from 24.4 percent in Q1 2011.

Net subscriber additions of 3G subscribers in the first quarter was 8.8 million, bringing the total to 48.9 million. 3G ARPU for the period was CNY93.9 with average monthly data usage per user of 242.8MB.

However, the company made a loss on the sale of telecoms products of CNY2.03 billion with a 3G handset subsidy cost of CNY1.98 billion, up 3.9 percent compared to a year earlier.

Revenue from the GSM part of the business was down 5 percent compared to 2011, to reach CNY16.73 billion. The net addition of GSM subscribers was just under a million, meaning GSM subscribers totalled 160.6 million by the end of the period. ARPU for the GSM business stood at CNY34.9.