Guangdong Unicom, the subsidiary of China Unicom in Guangdong, recently announced that it has entered into an agreement with the Huizhou municipal government, the Sina Tech News reported on July 6. Under the agreement, Guangdong Unicom will earmark two billion RMB (US$294.1 million; US$= 6.8 RMB) for IT network construction in the city over the upcoming five years, leveraging its WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) technology. With an aim to speed up the IT deployment in the Pearl River Delta, Guangdong Unicom will carry out projects related to e-government, e-commerce, public information platforms, and telecom infrastructure sharing with support from the said government. Meanwhile, Guangdong Unicom is set to spend 350 million RMB (US$51.5 million) on upgrading its existing 2G and 3G networks in 2009.

So far, Guangdong Unicom has launched WCDMA commercial trials in six major cities such as Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Dongguan. On July 19, 2009, the company is set to launch similar trials in major rural areas of Huizhou, according to the same source. Other than Huizhou, China Unicom also plans to invest into Henan province and Guangxi Autonomous Region in the next five years.

Aside from China Unicom, the subsidiaries of China Mobile and China Telecom also entered into similar agreements with the municipal government in late April and early May this year, respectively, to strengthen IT infrastructure in Huizhou.