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China Unicom's $19 billion spending plan includes $8.2 billion in handset procurement and a $4.1 billion 5G industry fund.
China Unicom might be the smallest of the big three Chinese telcos but it's just as capable as its bigger rivals of dropping large bundles of cash.
Speaking at a partners conference in Beijing earlier this week, Unicom chiefs have outlined a total of 138 billion Chinese yuan (US$19.0 billion) in spending plans this year.
As is customary, the disclosures are light on detail, but they give a glimpse into the operator's big ticket non-capex spend as well as the priorities of the company and its party-state bosses.
The biggest single item is RMB60 billion ($8.2 billion) in handset procurement, local media reported.
Wang Qiming, the head of device subsidiary Unicom Huasheng, said the company was upgrading its handsets, platforms and operations and improving terminal integration and marketing intelligence.
Reflecting the view of all Chinese telcos, who each sell millions of self-branded devices annually, he described the handset as the "anchor point for operators to serve end-users."
Unicom would invest another RMB22 billion ($3 billion) on resourcing its handset partnerships, he said without elaborating.
Upgrading 10,000 stores
The company also plans to tip RMB15 billion ($2.1 billion) into supporting its device business, including RMB12 billion in incentives to help terminals renew and upgrade.
It will spend another RMB10 billion ($1.4 billion) on consumer support, including RMB5 billion ($700 million) on electronic coupons and subsidies to help customers upgrade their plans.
Hu Lexin, general manager of China Unicom's public sales centers, said the operator would also spend RMB1 billion on refreshing its 10,000 stores.
Additionally, the telco has raised the size of its 5G industry fund from 10 billion to at least RMB30 billion, rebadging it as a "strategic emerging industry fund" that will target emerging and future industries and companies up and down the industrial chain.
During the event Unicom also broke out its subscriber numbers, revealing it has 338 million mobile users, including 274 million 5G package subs, 116 million broadband subs, including 30 million are gigabit users, and 550 million IoT connections.
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