HONG KONG: China Unicom, China's No. 2 mobile carrier, said on Wednesday it is raising subsidies for Apple's  iPhones that it sells for its service, in a bid to boost demand for the product whose sales have been slow.

Unicom announced a breakthrough agreement last year to offer the popular iPhone in China, and is currently the only company that sells the smartphones for its service in the country, the world's largest mobile market by users.

But sales have been relatively slow since the product's launch, with many saying that more aggressive subsidies are needed to boost demand.

Unicom Executive Director Lu Yimin added that the company expects to promote its third-generation (3G) business, which has been slow to pick up new users, with 3 billion yuan ($439 million) to 5 billion yuan in subsidies this year.