After the China became the first local mobile operator to offer the smartphone in the mainland, the sales of iPhone have become slow. Therefore China's No. 2 mobile carrier, China Unicom is going to raise its subsidies for Apple's iPhones to boost the demand of the product.

China Unicom added 2.1 million new 3G users in the first quarter of this year to a total of 4.8 million users, slower than bigger competitor China Mobile (0941. HK), which added 4.3 million users for a total of 7.7 million. China Unicom said it will also spend up to 5 billion Yuan ($735 million) in phone subsidies this year to magnetize new 3G customers.

As revenue from voice calls fall, China's three mobile carriers spent about $21 billion building their 3G networks in 2009, and are eager to recoup that investment by pushing more users towards the more expensive data service.

Unicom is currently the only company that sells the smartphones for its service in the country, so it had announced a breakthrough agreement last year to offer the well-liked iPhone in China. Unicom Executive Director, Lu Yimin said, "The Company expects to promote its third-generation (3G) business, which has been slow to pick up new users, with 3 billion Yuan ($439 million) to 5 billion Yuan in subsidies this year".