According to China Unicom, the company has recently purchased 1 million CDMA 1X color display handsets with a unit price at approximately US$180 — supposedly a demonstration of the company's strong support for the development of "U-Info" services, one of the service brands under CDMA 1X — a wireless Internet access service that supports WAP browser functions by virtue of the CDMA 1X network.

The handsets on this 'shopping list' include the Motorola V730, Shenzhen ZTE C900, Kyocera Zhenhua KZ820, Qingdao Haier Tiancaixing 2000, Da Liang Daxian C318 and TCL 1888. After Unicom Group purchases these handsets, about 30% will go to its established sales outlets, while 70% of the handsets will be forwarded to and sold by other agents.

It is Unicom Group's belief that this purchase will lower the handsets' market price and stimulate the initiatives of handset manufacturers in the areas of R&D, production, sales, as well as after-sales service.