China's CDMA growth slows
21/2/2003 14:55
The January performance of China's 3rd-generation telecom sector
(CDMA) was disappointing, with a slowdown in new user growth, according to
customer data released by CDMA operator China Unicom Co.
yesterday.
Listed on the Hong Kong Exchange, China Unicom is the only
provider of CDMA (Code-Division Multiple Access) service on mainland
China.
CDMA users spent 85 yuan (US$10) on average per month for the
service, estimate telecom analysts.
According to the data, new CDMA users
increased by 770,000 in January, up 13 percent from last December. This
represents a considerable slowdown compared with the 20-some-percent growth
rates reported in past months, when peak growth topped 1 million new users a
month.
China Unicom now has 7 million CDMA users.
Analysts blamed
the company's suspension of CDMA promotions for the decline in new user
growth.
The company had been offering free gifts and discounts to attract
more CDMA users, but discontinued the program last year after its CDMA users
topped 4 million.
Despite the disappointing performance, an analyst said
China Unicom's GSM performance (global system of mobile telecommunication) has
exceeded expectations.
In January, the company reported an increase of
1.2 million new GSM users, pushing its total users of the 2G telecom service to
54 million. More than 60 percent of the new customers opted for pre-paid card
service and the rest are registered users.
China Unicom's main rival
China Mobile Ltd., also listed in Hong Kong, released its customer data
yesterday.
The data indicated China Mobile's new GSM users increased by
21 million in January, with total users hitting 119 million. About 90 percent of
the new customers are pre-paid card users.
China Unicom closed at HK$5.35
yesterday, down HK$0.15, and China Mobile closed at HK$18.25, down
HK$0.05.
Jane Chen / Shanghai Daily news
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