China Unicom (600050, 0762.HK) generated net profit of 4.23 billion yuan on a 22.2 percent increase in revenue to 209.15 billion yuan, with earnings per share of 0.179 yuan, reports 163.com, citing a company filing.

The second-largest mobile operator by subscribers in China added 25.96 million new 3G users last year, bringing the total number of 3G users to 40.02 million. Revenue from the 3G business surged 182.3 percent year-on-year to 32.74 billion yuan, becoming the largest driver for revenue growth.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose 6.7 percent to 64.3 billion yuan in 2011,

China Unicom benefited from the solid growth of its 3G and broadband businesses, with its earnings growth 3.4 percentage points higher than the industry average.

Mobile services accounted for 55.6 percent of total 2011 revenue.

Revenue from mobile services rose 25.3 percent from 2010 to 103.3 billion yuan, and the total number of new mobile subscribers increased 19.3 percent year-on-year to 199 million by the end of 2011.

Average revenue per user (ARPU) stayed at 110 yuan.

China Unicom added a net 6.28 million new GSM users, increasing the total number of GSM subscribers to 159.64 million.  Revenue from the GSM business totaled 70.57 billion yuan

The number of broadband users rose 17.8 percent year-on-year to 55.65 million in 2011, with revenue from this business up  18.1 percent from a year ago.

China Unicom said it will continue to increase investment in its WCDMA network, and announced cash dividends of 0.1 yuan for every share held.

Source:capitalvue.com