China Netcom Group Corp (Hong Kong) Ltd, the smaller of the country's two fixed-line telephone operators, said first-quarter sales rose 0.2 percent as the company added users for its high-speed Internet service.　　
 
Revenue in the first three months climbed to 20.02 billion yuan, the Beijing-based company said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. The total excludes contributions from the company's Guangdong and Shanghai units, which were sold in February, Bloomberg News said.

Netcom, the dominant fixed-line carrier in 10 northern provinces, boosted subscribers to its broadband Internet business as growth in phone customers stalls because of competition from wireless operators such as China Mobile Ltd. The broadband market in China may more than double by 2011 as more people are able to afford the service, research firm Media Partners Asia Ltd said.

China Netcom gained 1.52 million broadband users in the first quarter for a total of 15.94 million, it said.

The company added 770,000 fixed-line phone users, including customers for the cordless city-wide Little Smart service, bringing its total to 15.94 million at the end of March. The service faced rising competition from mobile carriers China Mobile and China Unicom Ltd which cut prices and offered discount packages.

China Mobile and China Unicom said last month they are offering caller-pays service plans in most provinces, allowing customers to switch from their current subscriptions, most of which charge for both outgoing and incoming calls.

Source:佚名