China United Telecommunications (China Unicom), the only WCDMA 3G operator in China, on January 15 made available as many as five million inexpensive WCDMA handsets for contract-bundled sales in the market, the largest sales promoting foray since it started 3G operation in September 2009, according to China-based tech.qq.com.
The five million 3G handsets consist of seven models, that is, Nokia 2730c, Nokia 7230, Samsung Electronics S3370, Sony Ericsson J108i, LG Electronics T320 as well as two locally produced ones ZTE E850 and Huawei Device U7520, the media indicated. Due to such a large-scale procurement, these WCDMA handset models mostly sell at CNY700-800 (US$105-120), much lower than CNY1,000-1,500 for general 3G handsets, the media pointed out.
China Unicom had 12.776 million 3G subscribers as of the end of November 2010, and five million 3G handsets is equivalent to 39.1% of the number or one-third of the number of subscribers using 3G handsets, the media pointed out.
| China Unicom: Two examples of subsidized contract-bundled sales of WCDMA handsets | ||
| Guaranteed deposit for voice communication fees | CNY800 for a 18-month contract (to be evenly returned over 18 months) | CNY950 for a 24-month contract (to be evenly returned over 24 months) |
| Fixed monthly charge rate | CNY66 | CNY66 |
| Sales prices for handsets | Zero for ZTE E850 or Huawei U7520 | Zero for Nokia 2730c or Sony Ericsson J108i |
Source: tech.qq.com, compiled by Digitimes, January 2011
Article translated by Adam Hwang
