The Chinese government looks to increase private investments in the telecom sector to improve competition.
China Unicom said its main shareholder China United Network Communications was reviewing the firm’s ownership structure as part of a government plan to boost private investments in the telecommunications sector, Chinese press reported.
The country’s largest telecommunication firms – China Unicom, China Telecom and China Mobile – are all controlled by state-owned enterprises.
China Unicom is set to be among the first group of state-run enterprises expected to introduce private shareholders in a pilot scheme of ownership reform. China Unicom is one of six SOEs that were picked last September for a mixed-ownership pilot program. The other five are China Southern Power Grid, Harbin Electric, China Nuclear Engineering Group, China Eastern Air Holding and China State Shipbuilding.
China United Network Communications will be used as a platform for the mixed-ownership reform, China Unicom said in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange. China United Network currently owns a 75.94% stake in China Unicom.
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“As the related plan for these matters is still under further deliberation, these matters are still subject to substantial uncertainty,” China Unicom said.
China Unicom ended February with 265.6 million mobile subscribers, including 116.1 million LTE subscribers. China Unicom launched LTE services in March 2014, and currently uses spectrum in the 1800 MHz, 2.3 GHz and 2.5 GHz bands to support services.
The telco ended February with 72.2 million fixed broadband subscribers and 65.3 million fixed telephone customers.