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(dòng)運(yùn)營(yíng)商中國(guó)聯(lián)通(China Unicom)昨日發(fā)布的中報(bào)顯示出，其搶占市場(chǎng)份額的努力對(duì)其業(yè)績(jī)?cè)斐闪送侠?。中?guó)去年啟動(dòng)3G服務(wù)后，引發(fā)了激烈的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)。

　　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(rùn)同比下降62%，原因是它花費(fèi)了一多半的移動(dòng)業(yè)務(wù)收入來(lái)實(shí)施各種營(yíng)銷舉措，其中包括對(duì)iPhone等設(shè)備進(jìn)行補(bǔ)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(gè)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手，它在3G領(lǐng)域的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)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(dòng)運(yùn)營(yíng)商——中國(guó)移動(dòng)(China Mobile)上半年的凈利潤(rùn)同比增長(zhǎng)了4%；而中國(guó)三大移動(dòng)運(yùn)營(yíng)商中規(guī)模最小的中國(guó)電信(China Telecom)表示，其上半年的凈利潤(rùn)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(jìn)一步加大對(duì)手機(jī)的補(bǔ)貼，并擬在今年年底前推出10款智能手機(jī)。不過(guò)，聯(lián)通首席財(cái)務(wù)官佟吉祿表示，隨著該公司的3G業(yè)務(wù)開(kāi)始騰飛，其盈利水平也會(huì)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(rùn)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(yùn)營(yíng)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(jī)是實(shí)現(xiàn)這一目標(biāo)的關(guān)鍵。隨著中國(guó)城市移動(dòng)市場(chǎng)接近飽和，運(yùn)營(yíng)商們?nèi)粝霐U(kuò)大自己的用戶基礎(chǔ)，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(bǔ)這方面的劣勢(shì)，三大運(yùn)營(yíng)商均力爭(zhēng)讓高端用戶增加支出，特別是通過(guò)使用3G數(shù)據(jù)應(yīng)用來(lái)增加支出。