Analysis of the Impact of China Unicom's Executive Changes on the Investment Value of A-share Telecom Operator Sector

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According to the announcement released by China Unicom on January 14, 2026, Director Tang Guoliang resigned from his positions as director and member of the Board’s Development Strategy Committee and Audit & Risk Committee, and the resignation took effect on January 14, 2026 [0]. This personnel change occurred right after the conclusion of China Unicom’s 2026 Annual Work Conference, attracting market attention at the special juncture of the initial year of the “15th Five-Year Plan” period.

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China Unicom A-share (600050.SS) has recently been in a sideways consolidation trend. During the 30 trading days from December 2, 2025, to January 14, 2026, the stock price fell from $5.44 to $5.34, with a decline of 1.84%, trading within the range of $5.07-$5.53, and the volatility was at a low level of 1.05% [0]. Technical analysis shows that the current stock price is fluctuating between the support level of $5.20 and the resistance level of $5.39. The MACD indicator shows a bullish crossover signal, while the KDJ indicator shows short-term pressure. Overall, it is judged to be in a sideways consolidation pattern, with no clear buy or sell signals [0].

In terms of long-term performance, China Unicom has risen 10.10% in the past year, accumulated a 6.37% increase in three years, and a 14.35% increase in five years, showing a medium- to long-term upward trend [0]. The company’s current market capitalization is $162.76 billion, with a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 17.35x and a price-to-book (P/B) ratio of 0.95x, placing it at a reasonably low valuation level [0].

The three leading telecom operators have shown divergent performance recently. China Mobile (600998.SS) performed the strongest, with an 8.25% increase in the past 30 days, far exceeding the industry average; China Telecom (600030.SS) rose 2.06%; while China Unicom fell 1.84%, relatively lagging behind [0]. From the perspective of the entire industry, the communication services sector fell 0.71% on the day, ranking among the bottom of major industries, reflecting the market’s cautious short-term sentiment towards the communication sector [0].

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The A-share telecom operator sector has the following core investment characteristics:

Indicator	China Unicom	China Mobile	China Telecom
30-day Price Change	-1.84%	+8.25%	+2.06%
P/E (TTM)	17.35x	~15x	~18x
P/B (TTM)	0.95x	~1.2x	~0.9x
ROE (TTM)	5.62%	~9%	~6%

China Mobile continues to lead the sector with its user scale advantage and stable profitability; China Telecom has strong competitiveness in the government and enterprise business segment; although China Unicom is relatively smaller in scale, its valuation is more attractive, with certain room for valuation repair.

2026 is the initial year of the “15th Five-Year Plan” period, and all three operators have clarified their capital expenditure plans. According to industry data, the total capital expenditure of the three operators was approximately RMB 318.87 billion in 2024, and it is expected to drop to approximately RMB 280 billion in 2026, a decrease of about 12%, reflecting the industry’s transformation from scale expansion to quality improvement [1].

In terms of technological evolution, in-depth 5G application, computing power network construction, and 6G technology pre-research have become the common focus areas of the three operators. Meanwhile, the satellite Internet track has become a new competitive hotspot, and all three operators have fully deployed satellite Internet-related businesses [1].

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Director Tang Guoliang previously served as a member of the Board’s Development Strategy Committee and Audit & Risk Committee, whose main responsibilities covered the formulation of the company’s strategic plan and financial risk supervision. His resignation this time due to “work arrangement reasons” falls into the category of routine personnel adjustments.

From the perspective of the timing of the resignation, it coincided with the day after the conclusion of China Unicom’s 2026 Annual Work Conference, which just established the development main theme of “Uphold Integrity and Innovate, Steady Progress for Long-term Development” and four core tracks: connectivity, computing power, services, and security [2]. This indicates that the company’s governance level has made corresponding arrangements, and the personnel change will not have a significant impact on the company’s established strategy.

• The reason for resignation is stated as “work arrangement”, which is a routine personnel adjustment
• Mr. Tang Guoliang was not a member of the company’s core management team, so his resignation has limited impact on daily operations
• The operation of the board’s specialized committees will not be interrupted due to the resignation of a single member

• This adjustment is a personnel optimization in the initial year of the “15th Five-Year Plan” period, which helps the board’s functions to better serve the new strategy
• The company’s governance structure remains intact, and the market does not need to over-interpret this change
• The Q4 2024 financial report will be released on March 16, 2026, with solid fundamentals [0]

The personnel change of China Unicom has limited impact on the entire sector, mainly due to the following reasons:

1. Special Industry Attribute
   : Most telecom operators are central state-owned enterprises, and personnel adjustments fall into the category of normal organizational changes, which the market has already anticipated
2. Solid Company Fundamentals
   : China Unicom’s performance remained stable in the first three quarters of 2025, with revenues of RMB 103.35 billion (Q1), RMB 96.85 billion (Q2), and RMB 92.78 billion (Q3), maintaining profitability [0]
3. Clear Industry Trend
   : All three operators are facing opportunities such as digital transformation and computing power network construction, and structural opportunities are greater than the disturbances caused by personnel changes

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Based on the above analysis, our investment recommendations for the A-share telecom operator sector are as follows:

Operator	Investment Rating	Core Logic
China Unicom	Hold/Moderate Attention	Relatively low valuation (0.95x PB), strategic focus on four core tracks with growth potential; short-term stock price pressure, mid-term valuation repair potential exists
China Mobile	Overweight	Obvious user scale advantage, stable profitability, attractive dividend yield
China Telecom	Hold	Outstanding competitiveness in government and enterprise business, reasonable valuation, promising satellite Internet layout

• China Unicom’s Q4 2024 financial report to be released on March 16, 2026 [0]
• The implementation progress of the four core tracks (connectivity, computing power, services, security)
• Capital expenditure progress of new infrastructure such as 5G-A and gigabit optical networks
• Substantial progress in satellite Internet business

• Risk of price wars caused by intensified competition in the telecom industry
• Phased impact on performance during the capital expenditure decline cycle
• Transmission effect of macroeconomic fluctuations on government and enterprise business demand

China Unicom’s current P/E ratio is 17.35x, and its P/B ratio is only 0.95x, which is lower than the industry average (the average P/B ratio of the telecom operator sector is about 1.1x), providing a certain margin of safety [0]. Considering the company’s strategic positioning of “Uphold Integrity and Innovate, Steady Progress for Long-term Development” and its development approach focusing on main businesses, a valuation repair market is worth expecting.

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The resignation of China Unicom’s Director Tang Guoliang is a routine personnel adjustment and will not have a substantial impact on the company’s governance structure and established strategy. Combined with the development main theme of “Uphold Integrity and Innovate, Steady Progress for Long-term Development” established at the company’s 2026 Annual Work Conference and the strategic layout of the four core tracks: connectivity, computing power, services, and security, China Unicom is expected to achieve high-quality development in the initial year of the “15th Five-Year Plan” period [2].

From the sector perspective, the A-share telecom operators as a whole have allocation value characterized by “low valuation, high dividend, and steady growth”. China Unicom has the lowest valuation among the three operators, presenting medium- to long-term allocation opportunities; China Mobile and China Telecom are more suitable for investors pursuing stable returns.

: This executive change has limited impact on the investment value of China Unicom and the telecom operator sector. The market should focus more on the improvement of the company’s fundamentals and strategic implementation, rather than emotional disturbances caused by short-term personnel changes.

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[0] Jinling AI - China Unicom A-share Market Data and Technical Analysis
[1] Securities Times - “All Three Operators Fully Deploy in the Satellite Internet Track” (https://www.stcn.com/article/detail/3290812.html)
[2] EET China - “China Unicom: This is How We Will Proceed in 2026! A Detail is Touching!” (https://www.eet-china.com/mp/a466334.html)
[3] Sina Finance - “In-depth Interpretation of China Unicom’s ‘Changes’ in 2026! Two Highlight Benefits for the Industry and Hundreds of Millions of Users” (https://t.cj.sina.cn/articles/view/1144393351/44360e8700101btm0)