China Unicom to launch dual-mode handsets in Shanghai

[Bugwart]

China Unicom to launch dual-mode handsets in Shanghai; nationwide at end-July

BEIJING, Jul 07, 2004 (AFX-ASIA via COMTEX) -- China United Telecommunications Corp (Unicom Group), the smaller of the country's two mobile operators, will soon launch China's first dual-mode handsets and services in Shanghai, with a nationwide launch expected at the end of this month, Hou Wei, a public relation officer for Unicom told AFX-Asia.

"The new service is not only able to attract new users, but also can bring current GSM users of China Unicom more value-added services as they now can switch to China Unicom's CDMA network, " Hou commented.

The dual-mode handsets are supplied by South Korea's Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics and the US-based Motorola Inc, Hou said.

The dual-mode handsets, GSM1X mobile phones, enable users to switch between three networks -- the CDMA network of China Unicom, and the GSM networks of both China Unicom and China Mobile.

With 100 million subs, this should mean a fairly large number of dual mode handsets.