China Unicom's 3G Users Hit 5.51 mln at End-Apr

HONG KONG, May 20 -- China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd, the country's No. 2 mobile carrier, saw the number of its 3G subscribers increase by 681,000 or 14% month on month to 5.51 million in April this year, according to data released by the company yesterday.

The mobile carrier added 759,000 3G users in March.

The number of 2G users increased by 733,000 last month to 148 million. The number of broadband users increased by 596,000 in April to a total of 42.1 million.

China Unicom, which has a share of about 20% in the country's mobile telecom market, aims to have 10 million 3G users by the end of the year.

The company plans to offer higher subsidies for the purchase of iPhones this year in an effort to boost its 3G user base, according to an earlier report from China Knowledge.