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Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Moderated Thread - please read rules before posting -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: slacker711 who wrote (40705)	5/12/2004 8:32:38 AM
From: slacker711	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 196738

China Unicom Ups Low-Cost High-Speed CDMA Handset Supply HONG KONG (Dow Jones)--China Unicom Ltd. (CHU) said Wednesday its customers in China should soon have access to more cheap handsets, as the country's second largest mobile operator seeks to increase user numbers at one of its two national networks. China Unicom is coordinating the delivery of about three million locally made code division multiple access 1X handsets, capable of higher-speed data transmission, Executive Director William Lo said after the company's annual general meeting. The handsets will cost only about 1,500 yuan (US$1=CNY8.28) each and are targeted at mid-to-low end customers, Lo said. China Unicom will arrange the delivery of the handsets to retail outlets, but won't buy the stock itself. Since January 2003, the company has been scaling back subsidies it offers customers on mobile phones. Instead, it has introduced cheaper handsets as a way to grow user numbers and improve the prospects of its two-year-old CDMA business making a profit for the first time. China Unicom in March 2003 upgraded its national CDMA network to CDMA 1X. The more advanced standard allows the mobile operator to provide faster data transmission and numerous wireless value-added data services, like mobile phone banking and roadmaps. China Unicom targets break-even for its CDMA business on a full-year basis this year. The company had earlier ordered 500,000 dual-mode mobile service handsets, which allow its customers to switch between its upgraded CDMA and global system for mobile communications, or GSM, networks. The cheapest of these handsets will cost about CNY4,000 each and be ready for sale in July, Lo added.