China's number two mobile carrier, China Unicom, said yesterday that it is in talks with its State-owned parent to ease the burden of leasing its CDMA mobile network.

Unicom's newly appointed Chief Executive Officer and Chairman Chang Xiaobing said with average revenue per user on its CDMA network falling, the leasing cost of the CDMA system accounts for a higher percentage of operating expenses of the group.

"Our group will seek to have more talks with the parent company to come up with a more reasonable mode and price regarding the lease," said Chang.

Chang, a former deputy manager at fixed-line carrier China Telecom, transferred to the new post as part of a recent management reshuffle at the telecom industry.

He believes that China Unicom is at the vantage point to have both CDMA and GSM operations and will also have advantage to develop 3G business in future. But he declined to reveal how much the company will invest for 3G business.

Meanwhile, China Unicom's President Shang Bing declined to say whether the company would negotiate for a 49 percent stake in Companhia de Telecomunicacoes de Macao as reported.

However, he said that global business development is an important strategy for China Unicom and the company had talked with many overseas telecom companies.

The group's shares closed unchanged at HK$6.2 yesterday.

(China Daily December 24, 2004)