China Unicom and China Netcom were merged into a new mobile telecommunications giant on Wednesday, a major step towards restructuring China's telecom industry. The merger comes as the country prepares to deploy 3G high-speed wireless service nationwide.

The reshuffle means that the new China Unicom can extend its market from mobile to fixed-line and broadband service after merging with China Netcom, the countries' second largest fixed-line operator. Its CDMA mobile network has been sold to China Telecom.

The new company also sees improving customer service as its priority.

Chang Xiaobing, director ofChina Unicom, said, "We will keep our advantage in northern China and explore markets across the whole nation. We will also keep improving our service and exploring new opportunities in China's telecom industry."