China Unicom Ltd., the smaller of the country's two mobile-phone companies, will target rural areas for customers and develop more data services to boost earnings, Chairman Chang Xiaobing said.

"There is growth potential for us in the underdeveloped regions and rural areas, where the mobile penetration rate is still low, unlike in the cities where the markets are saturated," Chang told reporters during the Communist Party's national congress on Thursday.

The comments suggest Chang plans to follow a strategy that's helping its bigger rival add about four new customers for every one joining Unicom. China Mobile Ltd., the world's largest wireless carrier by subscribers, has said more than half of its new user additions during the first six months of the year came from the country's rural areas.

Chang said he had no new information about any government plans to reorganize the Chinese telecommunications industry.

China had 515.7 million mobile-phone subscribers at the end of August, the highest number of wireless users in the world, according to government data.