3G services lead China Unicom's growth

China Unicom Ltd. (CHU) said it added 2.126 million customers in July, pushing its total customer base to more than 183.7 million subscribers. The carrier remains the second largest operator in China, well behind China Mobile Ltd. (CHL) and its more than 616 million customers.
China Unicom noted that 1.874 million of its net additions in July were to its W-CDMA-based 3G network, which increased its 3G customer base to 25.8 million subscribers. The carrier added 252,000 new customers to its GSM-based 2G network, propelling its 2G customer base to 157.9 million subscribers.