The company recently launched a large-scale TV campaign supported by a 1,000-phone giveaway to mark its 3G service launch. The company, which operates a WCDMA 3G network, is partnering with Apple to introduce the iPhone to the market.
The account is worth an estimated US$51 million.
3G services are proving to be one of China’s biggest marketing battlegrounds this year. In the 2G market, China Unicom is the smallest of the big three operators with about 10 per cent market share, behind China Telecom (15 per cent) and China Mobile (75 per cent). Recent research suggested that the introduction of 3G could shake the market up, but that China Telecom was more likely to benefit than China Unicom.