China Unicom Strengthens Operational Fundamentals and Accelerates Digital and Intelligent Upgrade

China Unicom has advanced high-quality development with steady innovation throughout the year, consolidating operational foundations, unlocking new growth drivers, energising institutional reform and improving overall operational efficiency across its business system.

The company delivered stable financial performance in the first half of the year, recording an operating income of 201.4 billion yuan, representing a year-on-year increase of 0.6 per cent. Its core business income stood at 178 billion yuan, with total profits reaching 11.2 billion yuan and net profit attributable to shareholders hitting 4.1 billion yuan. Cash flow conditions maintained robust momentum, as net operating cash inflow surged 13.6 per cent year on year to 33.3 billion yuan, marking a historic high in recent years.

Capital allocation and operational input have achieved higher efficiency and precise optimisation. China Unicom invested 24.1 billion yuan in capital expenditure during the first half of the year, focusing heavily on the construction of computing power networks and next-generation communication infrastructure. The proportion of computing power investment in total capital spending rose to 37 per cent, with investment volume climbing more than 80 per cent year on year. The carrier has deepened network co-construction and sharing and promoted intelligent network operation and maintenance mechanisms. These measures have effectively controlled operational costs amid continuous network expansion, driving a 4.8 per cent year-on-year reduction in energy consumption per base station.

The company’s communication coverage network has achieved broader and denser deployment. China Unicom has built a total of 4.8 million 4G and 5G base stations, covering over 99 per cent of the national population, forming an integrated terrestrial and space mobile communication system. Nationwide satellite communication services including direct satellite handset access and Beidou short message transmission have been officially launched. 5G-A network coverage has extended to more than 330 cities, while 10-gigabit optical network commercial pilots have been rolled out in over 100 urban areas. A 400G all-optical intelligent computing network has been completed between core hub nodes, and the international terrestrial and submarine cable reserve capacity has reached 333T, forming high-speed information transmission channels connecting domestic and global markets.

Computing power construction and scheduling capabilities have achieved further optimisation and upgrading. China Unicom has integrated computing power development with green power deployment and built large-scale intelligent computing centres connected to the national unified computing network. The total intelligent computing scale has exceeded 45 EFLOPS. The network hosts more than 1.15 million standard server racks with a resource utilisation rate surpassing 74 per cent. The fully upgraded Unicom Xingluo intelligent computing scheduling platform supports full-network global perception, intelligent allocation and efficient collaboration of computing resources. Driven by robust computing power business growth, the segment generated 41.9 billion yuan of revenue, up 13 per cent year on year, with intelligent computing centre revenue rising 11 per cent and intelligent computing service revenue growing 9 per cent.

Digital and intelligent service capabilities have been further refined to empower industrial upgrading. Intelligent automated services now account for more than 85 per cent of total service volume. The company has supported the construction of over 10,000 5G-enabled smart factories under the framework of new industrialisation. Its industrial digital platform manages more than 14 million terminal devices, incubates 75 industrial large-scale models and launches over 150 industry-specific intelligent agents, facilitating cost reduction, efficiency improvement and low-carbon transformation for industrial enterprises. Continuous improvements in internet of vehicles operational capabilities have enabled stable service coverage for more than 100 million vehicles nationwide.

End-to-end cybersecurity capabilities have been comprehensively reinforced. The company’s Mogong security platform has completed full-scale iteration from single-point tool deployment to full-domain intelligent operation, advancing autonomous AI-powered security defence mechanisms. Self-developed security products including Unicom Shield and dedicated security private lines have maintained rapid large-scale growth, serving 470,000 corporate clients with a year-on-year growth rate of nearly 30 per cent.