All three of China's telecom operators have announced their operating data for May, and altogether gained 9.58 million mobile-phone users in the month, which boosts the number China's total mobile-phone users to 776 million by the end of May.

China Unicom adopted an aggressive marketing strategy and accomplished the fastest growth in cell-phone service subscribers in May, and its 3G user base broke 1 million.

PACE OF CARRIER DEVELOPMENT VARIES

Mobile service subscribers signed up by China's largest telecom operator in terms of revenue, China Mobile, fell to this year's single-month low, but it won 917,000 new 3G users, a new high since January.

The monthly addition of mobile-phone users of China Mobile all exceeded 5 million in the first quarter.

In terms of 3G user development, China Mobile also showed rapid and stable progress. In May, the telecom giant gained 917,000 3G subscribers to its service, up 28.6 per cent month on month, and boosting its total 3G user base to 9.32 million.

Besides this, China Telecom recruited 3.02 million new cell-phone users in May, broadly the same as the 3.03 million net addition in April, and in accord with its expectations of gaining about 3 million users each month.

Industrial insiders said that China Telecom focused more on attracting ordinary users to customers of higher average revenue per user (ARPU).

In addition, China Unicom gained 763,000 2G service subscribers and 1.02 million 3G users, including 278,000 3G wireless network interface card-users, boosting its total user bases respectively to 149 million and 6.53 million.

NEW MARKETING STRATEGY HELPS BOOST CHINA UNICOM'S NEW USER NUMBERS

China Unicom's net addition of mobile-phone users and broadband users all rebounded from April, and the number of 3G service subscribers gained in May hit this year's record monthly high, surpassing 1 million.

Industrial analysts hold that the telecom operator's achievement was mainly a result of the new marketing strategy it adopted in May, such as rolling out new 3G service packages at lower prices, and increasing subsidies for iPhone devices.

China Unicom made a lot of publicity to its full-service brand, "Wo". It injected 26.69 million yuan (US$3.93 million) in online advertisements in May, soaring 269.8 per cent month on month, ranking it the first among the telecom operators.

Zhang Bing, an analyst of CITIC Securities, said that in comparison with China Mobile and China Telecom, China Unicom's 3G service users grew faster, particularly in 3G cell-phone user numbers.

Among China Unicom's 6.35 million 3G service subscribers, 91 per cent of them are 3G mobile-phone users, a proportion much higher than that of China Mobile and China Telecom. Besides, most of these users are mid- and high-end customers of the latter two companies.

In May, China Unicom acquired an 18.56 per cent market share in the month's net addition of mobile-phone users, up 4.2 per cent from April.

Moreover, since China Unicom's net profit showed a recovery sign, industrial experts predict that with a further increase in the carrier's revenue, the increase of costs will slow down and profits rise. The telecom operator's net profit this year is expected to decrease 39 per cent, while its net profit in the first quarter dropped 68 per cent.

Zhou Jun, a senior analyst for Orient Securities, predicts that in the future China Unicom will gain about 1.5 million new 3G service subscribers monthly.

TERMINAL DEVICE SUBSIDY KEY FOR WINNING USERS

Huang Wenge, an analyst for Essence Securities, said although China Unicom's new 3G users in May exceeded 1 million and showed marked progress compared with March's 759,000 and April's 759,000, considering the marketing strategy the carrier adopted at the beginning of May, such as low-price 3G service package, improving the mix of service packages, and increasing subsidies, the net addition of 1.02 million was not that impressive.

Huang said it would be difficult for China Unicom to develop 10 million new 3G service subscribers with an ARPU of more than 100 yuan this year. It is known that the carrier developed 2.76 million such subscribers in the first four months of this year. Suppose China Unicom gained 3.48 million such users, the telecom operator has to gain at least 930,000 3G users with an ARPU of over 100 yuan in every single month of the following seven months to achieve the target.

The market had showed worries about whether China Unicom could accomplish the target when the carrier published its operating data in March and April.

Industrial experts believe that terminal product users' sensitivity about cell-phone subsidies, increase of quality-price ratio of smart phone products, and expansion of marketing channels are key elements for Chinese telecom operators to win users over.

Wang Jianzhou, president of China Mobile, said previously at a forum that China Mobile would subsidize users to the tune of 15 billion yuan this year, compared to the subsidies of 8 billion yuan in the 2G, and 12 billion yuan in 2009 for 3G service subscribers. Meanwhile, besides high-end mobile phones, the carrier will increase the supply of mid- and low-end handset models with prices below 1,000 yuan/unit.

With the increase of users who access the Internet via mobile phones, more consumers will choose 3G services. As the telecom operators' broaden their full-service operating strategy and offer larger subsidies, 3G smart phones will gradually come to ordinary consumers. How to lower the service prices further, optimize service quality, and increase the quality of service content, become the new challenges for the carriers and phone manufacturers.