Earlier this week I read a very interesting article about China Unicom being given an exclusive deal to develop the mobile communications infrastructure of the Hubei province, China. Something about a project this ambitious seemed a bit strange for a company whose net profit decreased by 45.28% year-on-year in the first six months of 2009.

The deal stipulated China Unicom spend no less than CNY 15 billion on the project over the next five years, with extra effort to be put towards the development of the 3G network. The local government has even pledged its support and will provide all the assistance needed to help complete the development. The big pay off? A very timely three year exclusive deal for China Unicom to carry the Apple iPhone in China, of course.

For some time there has been speculation whether or not the the carrier would land the iPhone, but today it was made official. The details are very limited at the moment with more to be unveiled in due course. For China Unicom it means a huge leap forward in a market dominated by China Mobile, for Apple this represents a huge opportunity for capital gain and a billion new potential customers to engage.

With the advancement of 3G infrastructure and the iPhone on the way, Apple and China Unicom look like a formidable team, one to watch in the coming months.

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