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iPhones coming to China after Apple, Unicom deal

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-08-28 20:12

BEIJING: China Unicom, the country's second largest telecom operator, said Friday its first-half net profit fell 42.1 percent year on year to 6.62 billion yuan (US$973.5 million), under international accounting rules.

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Revenue stood at 76.32 billion yuan in the first half. Earnings per share were 0.28 yuan, it said in a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Chang Xiaobing, chairman of China Unicom, said the company's restructuring and fierce competition resulted in the profit decline.

Revenue from mobile communication services rose 5.7 percent to 34.19 billion yuan while revenue from fixed-line broadband services surged 10.3 percent to 11.73 billion yuan.

China Unicom said it would improve its mobile communication service in the second half while making more efforts to promote its third generation service (3G) by optimizing the 3G network and launching new products.

iPHONE DEAL

The company and Apple Inc. jointly announced earlier Friday an agreement on selling Apple's iPhone in China over the next three years.

The two companies said iPhone handsets would become available on the Chinese market in the fourth quarter.

Details of the deal, however, would be revealed at a later date, according to the two firms.

China Mobile, the nation's largest telecom operator, had backed off from talks with Apple on selling the iPhone in China because Apple's offer was "too high," an official with China Mobile, who asked to remain anonymous, told Xinhua.