China Unicom Q3 profit falls 11 pct from Q2

BEIJING Oct 30 (Reuters) - China Unicom (0762.HK), the country's No. 2 mobile carrier, said third quarter profit fell 11 percent from the previous quarter, as competition heats up in China's recently overhauled telecoms sector.

Unicom said on Friday its net profit in the July-September period totalled 2.72 billion yuan ($398 million), based on Reuters calculations using data from the company's website. The drop comes after its second quarter earnings fell 14.6 percent from the first three months of the year.

Comparisons with last year are difficult as Unicom is a vastly different company now after an industry-wide revamp that saw it combined with another company to take on its current form.

Rivals China Mobile (0941.HK), the world's No. 1 mobile carrier, and China Telecom (0728.HK) also reported last week disappointing earnings, a trend likely to continue after the revamp designed in part to increase competition and heavy 3G spending. [ID:nPEK75764]

All three companies' shares lagged the 8.16 percent gain on Hong Kong's China Enterprises Index .HSCE during the third quarter. Unicom's shares gained 7 percent in the period, boosted by the promise of selling Apple's (AAPL.O) iPhone.

($=6.83 yuan) (Reporting by Kirby Chien; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)