China Unicom’s mixed-ownership reform

Recently, China Unicom, one of the country’s three state-owned telecom carriers, unveiled its plan to introduce strategic investors to push forward mixed-ownership reform. Under the plan, Unicom is offering 35 percent of its Shanghai-listed arm, China United Network Communications Ltd., to more than a dozen state and private investors, including tech giants Alibaba Group, Tencent Holdings and Baidu, to raise 77.9 billion yuan. Why is China Unicom launching the mixed-ownership reform? What are the challenges