(Yicai Global) Sept. 10 -- The smaller two of China's big three state-owned telecoms carriers, China Telecom and China Unicom, have united to build a fifth-generation mobile network in a bid to reduce operating costs.

The Beijing-based firms, officially China Telecommunications and China United Network Communications Group, will maintain their independent brands, they said in statements yesterday. Each will build their own core 5G network but they will share frequency resources while still adhering to fair, market-based principles, they said.

Co-building and sharing 5G networks in this way, in particular sharing 5G frequencies, will help reduce construction, operating and maintenance costs while rapidly building up service capacity, said China Unicom.

The pair will designate jurisdictions for each other in 15 major Chinese cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, according to the statements. China Unicom will build networks in the eight northern provinces and autonomous regions of the country, while China Telecom will construct them in the remaining 17 regions in the south.

Editor: James Boynton