China Unicom is to start a nationwide promotion campaign named F1 late this week to attract customers. This campaign will start in Guangdong Province and targets high-end customers.

This will be China Unicom's largest campaign this year.

The promotion means that customers who pay a two-year service charge of 4,800 yuan (US$578) in advance will be eligible for an additional "palm broadband" wireless Internet service package, which is worth at least 3,000 yuan. This includes a wireless Internet card valued at 1,200 yuan, four months of free wireless Internet services valued at 800 yuan, and a monthly gift of 50 yuan for local calls.

"Palm broadband" is the wireless Internet service provided by China Unicom based on its CDMA1X network, which enables a speedy 200kb Internet connection. With its mature and stable network, the "palm broadband" service aims to win more high-end customers in the F1 campaign.

Guangdong commands 10 percent of the total revenue of China Unicom and there is fierce competition among telecom operators. The promotion in Guangdong is significant for China Unicom's nationwide campaign.

Guangdong Mobile said they were not worried. Li Xinze, general manager of the marketing department of Guangdong Mobile, said they would observe the activities launched by their peer but would still observe their own strategies.

"We will stick to the quality of our network, services and management, which we believe will not change completely because of one or two promotions, " Li said.

(Shenzhen Daily October 28, 2004)