China Unicom profit flat

China Unicom on Thursday reported flat net profit growth in the fourth quarter compared to the year before, ending a nearly three-year run of accelerating growth as sales and marketing costs soared.

The country's second-biggest mobile carrier by subscribers, China Unicom found net profits barely rose to 2.04 billion yuan ($333.07 million) for the October-December quarter from 2.02 billion yuan the previous year, missing estimates of 2.43 billion yuan.

An aggressive push to roll out 4G services by rival China Mobile, the world's biggest carrier which signed a deal in December with Apple to distribute its iconic iPhone, has forced China Unicom to spend heavily on marketing and invest in 4G in the world's biggest smartphone market and so remain competitive.