China Unicom will spend $14.6B on 3G

China Unicom is forking over big bucks to build a 3G wireless network across China. The company said it will spend $14.58 billion over the next two years to build the network which will use a 3G spectrum license that the company expects to get as part of its merger with China Netcom Group.

The merger between the two firms is being driven by government regulators as part of an industry restructuring announced in May.  Chinese regulators have said they will issue three nationwide 3G licenses. Recipients are expected to be China Mobile, China Telecom and China Netcom.

Analysts have said that Qualcomm is likely to benefit from China Unicom's plans because it will probably be one of the suppliers.

For more:
- see this article [1]

Related articles:
China's operators [2] move ahead with restructuring
China Unicom [3] buys China Netcom for $24B