The Company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong on 21 June 2000 and 22 June 2000 respectively. On 1 June 2001, the Company was included as a constituent stock of the Hang Seng Index.
China United Telecommunications Corporation ("Unicom Group") is the major shareholder of the Company. As of 31 December 2006, Unicom Group indirectly and effectively holds 52.60% of shares in the Company through China Unicom (BVI) Limited and China United Telecommunications Corporation Limited. The public investors of the A Share market in Shanghai indirectly and effectively hold 24.09% of shares in the Company. The remaining 23.31% of shares in the Company are held by public investors in Hong Kong and New York.
At present, the Company is engaged in the cellular business (both GSM and CDMA) in 30 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions in China through China Unicom Corporation Limited, the provision of nationwide international and domestic long distance calls, data and Internet services, and other related telecommunication value-added businesses.
As to its cellular business, the Company is one of the two mobile telecommunications operators in the PRC. As of 31 December 2006, the Company had a total number of 142.366 million subscribers for its GSM and CDMA cellular businesses and was the third largest mobile telecommunication operator in the world in terms of subscribers. As for the number of CDMA subscribers, the Company reached 36.493 million and was ranked as the second largest CDMA cellular operator in the world.
The Company has constructed the second largest broadband optical fiber transmission network in the PRC as a shared platform that supports the operations of cellular business, international and domestic long distance calls, data and Internet. This network has provided a good support for network resources to facilitate the rapid development of the Company's various businesses.
The Company operates telecommunications businesses in Hong Kong and USA through its wholly-owned subsidiary China Unicom International Limited. On 14 August 2006, China Unicom (Macau) Limited ("Unicom Macau") won the CDMA license in Macau Special Administrative Region. On 18 October the same year, Unicom Macau officially launched CDMA service in Macau. On 24 October 2006, Unicom Macau won a licence to provide 3G (CDMA2000 1X EV-DO) mobile service in Macau.