China Netcom Group Corp. (Hong Kong) Ltd. was fully merged into China Unicom Ltd. on October 15, creating the new China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd. As a result, China Netcom was delisted from the Hong Kong and New York stock exchanges.

The merger marked the completion of restructuring of the country's telecom sector, a drastic industry shake-up that began in May. The deal, valued at $24 billion, is the country's biggest merger to date.

The new company will integrate the two firms' wireless and fixed-line services. It also will use their current resources to reinforce the construction of broadband networks and accelerate and improve the construction of mobile communications and 3G networks.

Canton Fair Opens

The autumn session of this year's biannual China Import and Export Fair (Canton Fair) opened in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province, on October 15 and will run until November 6. The trade fair is viewed as the barometer of China's exports and imports.

Wen Zhongliang, director of the fair's business office, told Xinhua News Agency that there are 53,000 booths at the fair, or 10,000 more than the previous spring session. The booths were rented by 22,000 businesses, or 3,000 more than in the spring.

First held in 1957, the Canton Fair has evolved into a leading world trade fair for global exporters and customers. It is known as the "Canton Fair" because Canton was the former name of Guangdong.

Shougang Furnaces Auction

Shougang Group, a major Chinese iron and steel maker, said on October 13 that it would auction off most of its blast furnaces in west Beijing, because it is moving out of the capital for environmental reasons.

The No. 5 furnace, Shougang's first large facility for making iron, will be the first to be sold. The furnace has been out of operation since July 2005 when the iron giant started moving to Caofeidian, an islet in neighboring Hebei Province, as part of the country's environment protection campaign.

Yanhuang Auction Co. Ltd., a Beijing-based firm that will hold the auction, has confirmed the plan.

Aviation Host

Capital Airports Holding Co., the parent company of Beijing Capital International Airport, has been selected to host the 15th World Routes Development Forum in Beijing on September 13-15, 2009. It will be the first time for China to host the worldwide aviation forum.

Zhang Zhizhong, General Manager of Capital Airports Holding Co., told Xinhua News Agency that the forum would bring more opportunities for the company's global promotion and branding efforts.

The World Routes Development Forum is a networking event for the airline industry. It is expected that more than 2,000 delegates from global airports, airlines and industry suppliers will attend the forum.

ZTE Wins Big Order

ZTE Corp., a major telecommunications equipment maker, has won a $400-million contract to supply mobile-phone-network equipment to an Indian carrier, ZTE announced on October 13.

According to the deal, ZTE will provide GSM equipment to Aircel Co. Ltd., India's No. 5 carrier. Aircel is a subsidiary of the multinational telecommunications giant Maxis Group.

From 2009 to 2011, Maxis will invest an additional $4-5 billion in the Indian market, which currently has the world's highest growth rate for mobile penetration.

Because Maxis has experience in operating a 3G network, the GSM deal will help ZTE develop 3G services in the future, the Shenzhen-based company said in the statement.