BEIJING-China Unicom announced it had completed upgrading its CDMA network to CDMA 1x, enabling a host of new services, including multimedia messages and high-speed Internet access.
The new CDMA 1x services will be marketed under the brand name U-Max. The U stands for Unicom, and the Max for maximum.
The rollout of CDMA 1x is expected to increase China Unicom’s average revenue per user (ARPU), which has been declining.
In related news, China Unicom parent China United Telecommunications Shareholding Company, listed on Shanghai’s A-share market, reported revenue growth of 36 percent to 39.48 billion yuan (US$4.68 billion) in 2002, while net profits increased 16.6 percent to 1.96 billion yuan (US$232 million).
Revenue from its cellular business rose 49.1 percent to 31.46 billion yuan (US$3.73 billion).
One-way charging for mobile calls, which will probably be introduced later this year, is expected to have a negative impact on the company’s revenue this year.
