Hong Kong-listed China Unicom Ltd, the mainland's second largest mobile telecom operator, reported on Thursday that its net profit surged 144.7 percent to 9.3 billion yuan in 2007.

The company attributed the growth to a significant lower losses from the change in fair value of the derivative component of its convertible bonds.

China Unicom also received a tax refund of 2.8 billion yuan for the reinvestment of profits made by a subsidiary in China.

The operator's revenue saw an annual increase of 4.4 percent to 99.54 billion yuan in 2007, according to its statement.

(Xinhua News Agency March 28, 2008)