(Yicai) Nov. 27 -- China Unicom has appointed General Manager Chen Zhongyue as its next chairman after the former chief left to lead the new National Data Bureau in July, one of China’s three big wireless carriers announced recently.

Chen joined Beijing-based China Unicom in 2021 as a board director and GM, moving from rival China Telecommunications Corp. There his latest title was executive vice president after being promoted to deputy general manager in 2014, Yicai learned.

"China Unicom will advance the upgrade of digital consumer demand and optimize the supply, and accelerate the construction of intelligent and integrated digital information infrastructure with fifth-generation mobile networks, broadband, computing power, and high-quality government and enterprise networks as the core," Chen said regarding the firm's future development at the first-half earnings conference.

Born in 1971, Chen got a master's degree in business administration for senior executives at Xiamen University in 2011, per public information. His first master's degree was in economics at Zhejiang University in 1998. Before that, he graduated from the Shanghai School of Posts and Telecommunications with a major in international mail and telecom services.

In the first three quarters of this year, China Unicom reported CNY7.6 billion (USD1.1 billion) in net profit, up 11 percent from a year ago, and CNY281.7 billion (USD39.4 billion) in revenue, up 7 percent, slightly lower than the growth rate logged earlier, per its interim financial report.

Editors: Shi Yi, Emmi Laine