China Unicom Ltd and China Netcom Group Corp will hold a joint briefing today to announce details of the merger between the telecom giants.

China Unicom, the country's second biggest mobile-phone company, will give details of the merger plan with China Netcom at 4:30pm in Hong Kong, Beijing-based China Unicom said.

At 6pm, China Unicom will hold another press conference to offer details of a sale of its network based on code-division multiple access technology (CDMA) to China Telecom Corp, Unicom added.

The sale, which is expected to be between 100 billion yuan (US$14.41 billion) and 120 billion yuan, will allow China Telecom to offer wireless services and compete against China Mobile Ltd in the world's largest phone market.

The two steps taken by China Unicom today are part of the government's proposal to reorganize the country's telecommunications industry.

Under the plan, fixed-line operator China Netcom, which dominates the northern China market, will get China Unicom's mobile network and users based on GSM technology via the merger.

The fixed-line carrier China Telecom will buy the CDMA mobile phone network from China Unicom, the Ministry of Industry and Information said in a statement on May 24.

China Mobile Communications Corp, the state-owned parent of China Mobile, will take control of fixed-line carrier China Tietong Telecommunications Corp, the ministry said.

The government said it plans to create a more balanced market structure via the reorganization and new rules, according to a statement jointly issued by the Ministry of Finance and the National Development and Reform Commission.

After the revamp, China will issue three licenses for third-generation high-speed mobile services.

Shares of China Unicom, China Telecom and China Netcom have been suspended from trading in Hong Kong since May 23.

Analysts said Hong Kong-listed China Telecom is expected to resume trading if China Unicom and Telecom strike a deal today.

However, as negotiations between China Unicom and Netcom are quite complex, Unicom trading may be suspended both in Shanghai and Hong Kong.

(Shanghai Daily June 2, 2008)