China Unicom Ltd, one of China's three major State-owned phone companies, said Wednesday it earned 3.6 billion yuan ($525 million) in the first quarter following its merger with rival China Netcom.

The profit for the three months ending March 31 was equal to 0.15 yuan per share, the Beijing-based company said. It said no comparable 2008 figures were given because last year's financial reports were not prepared under the same standards.

China Unicom and China Netcom completed a merger in January as part of a government-orchestrated industry restructuring meant to revive competition by creating three Chinese phone companies, each with mobile and fixed-line assets.

China Unicom was assigned a third-generation mobile phone license in January following the restructuring.