November 22, China Unicom Ltd. (600050.SH, 0762.HK, NYSE:CHU) saw an explosion in subscribers to its 3G services in October, up 23.7%, or 2.92 million, year-on-year to 33.15 million.

That’s the third consecutive month the company has added more than 2 million new users to its 3G services.

China Unicom, the country’s second-largest mobile operator by users and the first official partner for Apple Inc.’s phenomenally popular iPhone, is now just 2.94 million users short of realizing its target of 25 million new subscribers this year, according to operating data calculated by the company in September.

Judging from the fast growth rate of China Unicom`s new 3G users, the company will find it easy to achieve the 25 million goal of this year, market watchers said, adding that China Unicom is likely to surpass China Mobile unless the world’s largest mobile operator comes up with an innovative act.