China Unicom reports 30-pct profit rise in first three quarters

China Unicom, the country's second-largest mobile operator, said Thursday that its net profits in the first three quarters rose 30.2 percent year on year to 5.41 billion yuan (858.7 million U.S. dollars). Business revenues reached 190.64 billion yuan during the period, an increase of 18.7 percent from a year earlier, according to the company's quarterly report filed with the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Earnings per share came in at 0.08 yuan, the report said. During the January-September period, China Unicom took in 125.36 billion yuan for its mobile business, of which service revenue amounted to 95.88 billion yuan, up 22.7 percent year on year. The company's mobile subscribers hit 229 million as of the end of last month, according to the report. China Unicom's 3G subscribers had reached 66.86 million as the end of September, with income from 3G services accounting for 46 percent of the company's total mobile service revenues, according to the report.