Image source: China Visual

BEIJING, August 9 (TMTPOST) -- China Unicom (600050.SH, 00762.HK) General Manager Chen Zhongyue said at the company’s 2022 semi-annual earnings presentation on Monday that its capital expenditure in the first half of the year reached 28.35 billion yuan ($4.19billion), of which 11.7 billion yuan ($1.73billion) was invested in 5G-related areas.

In the first half of this year, China Unicom's 5G investment grew significantly. Chen said that 180,000 new 5G base stations were built in the first half of the year， bringing the total number to 870,000. About 80,000 5G base stations were put into operation through the cooperation between China Unicom and China Telecom during the same period last year.

In June 2019, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology officially issued 5G licenses to China Mobile, China Telecom, China Unicom and China Radio and Television. Considering the high cost of 5G network construction, China Telecom and China Unicom adopted co-construction and sharing, and China Mobile and China Radio and Television cooperated to build a network based on the 700MHz frequency band.

In the first half of this year, China Unicom's operating revenue was 176.26 billion yuan ($20.07billion), up 7.4% year-on-year, while net profit attributable to the parent was 4.79 billion yuan($708.44million), up 18.56% year-on-year. Net profit per share after deductions was RMB 0.156 ($0.023), an increase of 14.7% year-on-year.

China Unicom's mobile business revenue in the first half was 84.9 billion yuan($12.56billion), up 3.4% year-on-year. Mobile subscribers reached 320 million, including 185 million 5G subscribers. ARPU (average revenue per user) for mobile users was RMB 44.4($6.57), the same as the same period last year.

By comparison, China Mobile had 970 million mobile service users as of June this year, including 511 million 5G users. China Telecom had 384 million mobile service users, including 232 million 5G users.

Chen mentioned that China Unicom has submitted an application to the Beijing branch of China Securities Regulatory Commission for the listing of its IoV (Internet of Vehicles) subsidiary, China Unicom SMART Connection Technology Limited. The application has been accepted and is currently in the counseling period for the listing. "We now also have several high-quality subsidiaries gradually developing and growing, and listing-related work will be considered at an appropriate time according to the development of subsidiaries," he said.

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