CHINA Unicom, the nation's second-largest mobile phone company, yesterday posted first-quarter profit that missed analysts' estimates on weaker-than-expected subscriber additions to its high-speed service.

Net income rose to 1 billion yuan (US$159 million), from a restated 145 million yuan a year earlier, the Beijing-based telco said in a statement. That compared with the 1.1 billion yuan median of six analysts' estimates in a Bloomberg News survey.

China Unicom lost the advantage of being the only carrier on the Chinese mainland to offer Apple's iPhone with a service contract when China Telecom began sales of the device on March 9.

China Unicom added 8.84 million users to its 3G network in the first quarter, which Macquarie Group Ltd analyst Lisa Soh called "a weak number."

Revenue rose 25 percent to 61.2 billion yuan in the first quarter.

China Unicom's 3G subscribers totaled 48.9 million at the end of March. The company lagged behind China Mobile's 59.6 million 3G users, according to data the companies released this month.

滬江英語快訊：中國聯(lián)通作為中國第二大的手機運營商，近日公布了其2012年第一季度財報。財報顯示，聯(lián)通凈利潤為10億元，較去年同期的1.45億大幅增長594%。聯(lián)通在3G市場上表現(xiàn)出色，但是從3月9日中國電信開始銷售蘋果iPhone手機開始，聯(lián)通失去了其內(nèi)地唯一蘋果手機服務(wù)商的優(yōu)勢，不過仍在第一季度增加了884萬的3G用戶。截止3月底，聯(lián)通共有3G簽約用戶4890萬，而其老對手中國移動則擁有5960萬3G用戶。