China Unicom, the country's second largest telecom operator, said Friday its first-half net profit fell 42.1 percent year on year to 6.62 billion yuan (US$973.5 million), under international accounting rules.

Revenue stood at 76.32 billion yuan in the first half. Earnings per share were 0.28 yuan, it said in a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Chang Xiaobing, chairman of China Unicom, said the company's restructuring and fierce competition resulted in the profit decline.

Revenue from mobile communication services rose 5.7 percent to 34.19 billion yuan while revenue from fixed-line broadband services surged 10.3 percent to 11.73 billion yuan.

China Unicom said it would improve its mobile communication service in the second half while making more efforts to promote its third generation service (3G) by optimizing the 3G network and launching new products.

(Xinhua News Agency August 29, 2009)