Hong Kong China Mobile Adds 1.31 Million Subscribers in Jan

HONG KONG -(Dow Jones)- Mobile-phone services operator China Unicom Ltd. said Sunday it added 1.31 million subscribers in January, the largest monthly increase since May 2005 - bringing its total mobile service customers to 129.10 million.

Its subscriber total rose 1.44 million in May 2005 while the smallest monthly increase since May was 1.20 million in August.

During January 2006, China Unicom added 990,000 subscribers to its global system for mobile service, or GSM, to a total of 96.06 million.

Customers for the company's code division multiple access service, or CDMA network, rose 320,000 to 33.04 million.

China Unicom is China's second-largest mobile phone operator by subscribers, after China Mobile (Hong Kong) Ltd. (CHL).

-By Ernest Kong, Dow Jones Newswires; 852-2802-7002; ernest.kong@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires "

Posted to the site on 19th February 2006