China Unicom yesterday unveiled the damage caused by its attempts to grab market share amid the fierce competition sparked by the start of third-generation services in China last year.

　　全球第二大移動運營商中國聯(lián)通(China Unicom)昨日發(fā)布的中報顯示出，其搶占市場份額的努力對其業(yè)績造成了拖累。中國去年啟動3G服務后，引發(fā)了激烈的競爭。

　　The world’s second-largest mobile operator said its net profit dropped 62 per cent in the first half year-on-year after it spent more than half its mobile revenue on marketing measures including subsidies for devices such as the iPhone.

　　聯(lián)通表示，今年上半年凈利潤同比下降62%，原因是它花費了一多半的移動業(yè)務收入來實施各種營銷舉措，其中包括對iPhone等設備進行補貼。

　　As Unicom has struggled to keep up with its two competitors in the pace of picking up new high-end subscribers, the company is suffering most from the fierce competition in the 3G segment.

　　聯(lián)通高端用戶的增速一直難以趕上它的兩個競爭對手，它在3G領域的競爭激烈中受影響最大。

　　China Mobile, the world’s largest operator, saw net earnings rise 4 per cent year-on-year in the first half, while China Telecom, the smallest of China’s three carriers, said net profit was flat.

　　全球最大的移動運營商——中國移動(China Mobile)上半年的凈利潤同比增長了4%；而中國三大移動運營商中規(guī)模最小的中國電信(China Telecom)表示，其上半年的凈利潤與去年同期持平。

　　Unicom said handset subsidies would rise further in the second half as it plans to launch 10 smartphones before the end of the year. However, profitability would improve as the company’s 3G business took off, said Tong Jilu, chief financial officer.

　　聯(lián)通表示，它在下半年將進一步加大對手機的補貼，并擬在今年年底前推出10款智能手機。不過，聯(lián)通首席財務官佟吉祿表示，隨著該公司的3G業(yè)務開始騰飛，其盈利水平也會有所提高。

　　Net profit for the first six months was Rmb2.5bn ($368m), down from Rmb6.6bn during the same period last year.

　　聯(lián)通上半年的凈利潤為25億元人民幣（合3.68億美元），低于去年同期的66億元人民幣。

　　Average revenue per user, already the lowest among the three carriers, also continued to slide, but the company said it was confident it would keep Arpu levels for 3G users at above Rmb100 a month.

　　每用戶平均收入(ARPU)也繼續(xù)出現(xiàn)下滑——聯(lián)通的ARPU原本就是三大運營商中最低的。但該公司表示，有信心把3G用戶的ARPU值保持在每月100元人民幣以上。

　　Smartphones are key to this. As China’s urban mobile markets are nearing saturation, the carriers can only expand their user base by adding customers in smaller towns or the countryside, who tend to have lower incomes and spend less.

　　智能手機是實現(xiàn)這一目標的關鍵。隨著中國城市移動市場接近飽和，運營商們?nèi)粝霐U大自己的用戶基礎，只能依靠在中小城鎮(zhèn)或農(nóng)村招攬用戶，但居住在那些地方的人往往收入和支出水平都較低。

　　To balance that, all three carriers are bent on making top-end customers spend more; especially by using data applications on 3G.

　　為了彌補這方面的劣勢，三大運營商均力爭讓高端用戶增加支出，特別是通過使用3G數(shù)據(jù)應用來增加支出。