China Unicom reported weak financial results in the fourth quarter of 2015 wherein total revenue was down year over year while loss per ADR was in contrast to earnings recorded in the prior-year quarter.

Nonetheless, the 3G/4G space is a compelling opportunity and should propel growth. In the fourth quarter of 2015, China Unicom added 11.386 million 3G/4G subscribers. The 3G subscriber base is growing rapidly, mainly attributable to improving customer retention strategy and enhanced overall customer experience.

Moreover, China Unicom has been significantly expanding its 4G FDD-LTE network. With Internet penetration still very low, 4G opens up a huge opportunity for China Unicom. The company has also rapidly boosted 4G handset market share while optimizing channel mix. Notably, the increased momentum of 4G business can be witnessed through the monthly net additions of 5.27 million and 5.38 million 4G users in January and February this year, respectively.

China Unicom has also tied up with China Telecom Corp. Ltd. CHA to share resources for various strategic initiatives, in order to challenge the dominance of the much larger China Mobile Limited CHL. Network sharing of rural 4G infrastructure is one of the key components covered in the agreement. We believe that a growing 4G market and increasing rate of wireless penetration in China provide the ideal situation for a tie-up between the companies.

Also, signing of a pact with Telefonica Brasil S.A. VIV over the sharing of international data center capacities and cloud applications should aid China Unicom in supporting its clients vying to enter European and American markets using Telefonica’s infrastructure.

Meanwhile, in the fixed-line business, China Unicom is poised to benefit from expansion and speed enhancement of fiber-optic service in its broadband business. China Unicom is speeding up its network, enhancing its marketing and customer retention system along with improving service quality in order to fuel development in this business. Also, the company is focused on accelerating the development of growth businesses such as Internet access, VAS and integrated information services.

However, China Unicom continues to experience significant decline in its local access lines. The company lost 2.664 million fixed-access subscribers in the fourth quarter while the fixed-line local access subscriber base totaled 73.858 million, down 10% year over year.

The company’s ARPU (average revenue per user) is also under pressure due to aggressive price competition, while the monthly average churn continues to be high. Moreover, despite its efforts, China Unicom continues to lag China Mobile in terms of 4G rollout and subscriber addition.(From: YAHOO)