BEIJING, Nov. 4, 2009 (Xinhua News Agency) -- China Unicom (OOTC:CHUFF) (0762.HK; CHU.NYSE) aims to acquire one million new subscribers of the 3G WCDMA business per month, said Chang Xiaobing, chairman and chief executive officer of the telecom operator, on Tuesday after the firm's extraordinary general meeting (EGM).

The EGM approved the buyback of about 899.7 million China Unicom shares from SK Telecom (NYSE:SKM) , a telecom operator of Republic of Korea (South Korea).

Lu Yimin, president of China Unicom, revealed that customers welcome Unicom-branded iPhone handsets, and there are over five thousand iPhone subscribers in China. He also rebutted the saying that iPhone is too expensive, and said the current contracts of 5,999 yuan to 7,999 yuan involve two years' services, which means the actual handset prices are under 3,999 yuan, and Chinese mainland's customers are simply not used to contract sales.

Each business segment of China Unicom showed stable development in 2009. The fixed-phone communications business increased steadily, the fixed-line broadband business maintained a double-digit growth, the 2G mobile communications business acquired more market share, and the development of the 3G business was in accord with the carrier's expectation, said Chang. But the firm needs to count 3G network construction in depreciation expenses in the final quarter, and the expenditure on marketing and advertising will increase.

By the end of October, China Unicom's 3G business is on commercial operation in 285 Chinese cities, and the firm has developed over one million 3G users.