China Unicom announced solid results for the first quarter of 2013, driven by growth in its mobile – and in particular 3G – operation.

The company reported a profit for the period of CNY1.9 billion ($307.9 million), up 88.6 per cent from CNY1 billion in Q1 2012, on revenue of CNY70.6 billion, up 15.4 per cent from CNY61.2 billion.

Service revenue from the mobile business increased by 20.4 per cent to CNY35.2 billion.

Service revenue from its 3G operation was CNY19.23 billion, increasing as a percentage of total mobile service sales to 54.6 per cent from 42.8 per cent.

It ended the period with 87.82 million 3G subscribers (35 per cent of its total), having added 11.4 million during the three months.

Earlier this week, larger rival China Mobile said that it had 114.4 million 3G customers, which represents just 16 per cent of its total.

While China Unicom operates a GSM/WCDMA network that is compatible with international standards, China Mobile uses the home-grown TD-SCDMA 3G technology, and has not been able to generate the same level of momentum so-far.

China Unicom – the country’s second biggest mobile operator – ended the year with 250.7 million subscribers, having added 11.4 million during the quarter.

The company also said service revenue from its fixed line operation grew by 5.4 per cent to CNY21.66 billion.