The boards of directors of Unicom and Netcom refer to (1) the Announcement on Deepening the Reform of the Structure of the Telecommunications Sector dated 24 May 2008 jointly issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Finance of the PRC which states, among other things, that the PRC government will deepen the reform of the structure of the telecommunications sector, and encourage the formation of three market competitors where each has nationwide network resources, relatively comparable strength and scale, as well as full service operation capabilities, that the allocation of telecommunications resources will be further optimized and the competition structure will be improved, and that three 3G licences will be granted once the contemplated restructuring is completed, and (2) the announcements issued by Unicom and Netcom on 25 May 2008.