Chairman Chang Xiaobing of China Unicom – China’s second-largest mobile operator – this morning provided delegates with an update on the operator’s 3G rollout, proclaiming that the new network will cover all of China’s urban areas by the middle of next year. The WCDMA-based network – branded as ‘Wo’ – launched commercially on 1 October this year and Chairman Chang said that some 285 cities have been covered to date with this figure expected to rise to 335 cities by year-end. He noted that 110,000 3G base stations had been build to date with around 10,000 of these shared with rival operators. Specialist 3G Unicom stores have now been opened in 285 Chinese cities. 

Chairman Chang said that Unicom is deploying a “unified branding, packaging and marketing” strategy for the new network based around the Wo brand, while various subsidiaries have been set up to manage specific 3G service areas such as music, video and mobile broadband. He added that Unicom has also broken new ground in pricing, claiming to have launched one of China’s first nationwide, all inclusive data tariffs.

Unicom’s 3G strategy received a major boost in October when it was announced that it would become the first Chinese operator to officially carry Apple’s iPhone 3G. Chairman Chang told delegates that further high-profile WCDMA-based devices – including handsets based on Google’s Android platform – are expected to launch on the new network soon.

Chairman Chang was upbeat on China’s economic recovery, noting that its telecoms sector had reported a 3.1 percent rise in revenues in the first nine months of the year, compared to the same period a year ago. “Mobile broadband will be the catalyst for global economic recovery,” Chairman Chang said, but warned that the industry must first learn how to “turn data flow into cash flow.”