Local Chinese media this week proclaimed that the logo for China Unicom's 3G business has been revealed in a promotional animation published on the website of its local branch in Wuxi.

The mark, which is formed by "Win 3G", is designed as a traditional Chinese stamp. In the animation, China Unicom also displays its various services, including 3G maps, mobile phone email, MMS, picture sharing, video calls, e-books and online TV. The brief animation also has the Chinese characters of "Wuxi becomes the first testing area in Jiangsu".

Chinese media went wild this week, with many reports stating this was the new logo, but a representative from China Unicom's marketing department now says that the mark is only a promotional logo of the local Wuxi branch and has nothing to do with China Unicom's soon-to-be-released 3G mark. The real mark will be released "in due time" and will be part of a formal announcement and ceremony after full 3G services are launched.

At present, rival China Mobile has published its "G3" mark for its 3G business and China Telecom has launched its "eSurfing" brand.

China Unicom's chairman Chang Xiaobing said that China Unicom would open the WCDMA networks in 282 Chinese cities in 2009 and 55 out of the 282 cities would complete deployment in the first half of this year. The company is expected to invest CNY100 billion in its development for the next two years, of which about CNY60 billion will be allocated to 2009.