BEIJING - China Unicom, one of China's major mobile operators, on Wednesday reported a soaring growth of 458 percent in its profits for 2018.

Profits amounted to 10.2 billion yuan ($1.5 billion), the company said.

Revenue stood at 290.9 billion yuan, higher than the market estimate of 287.05 billion yuan.

Revenue from its mobile services reached 165.1 billion yuan, up 5.5 percent year-on-year, higher than the industry average of 0.6 percent.

The company's 4G users increased by 45.05 million last year, bringing the total number to 220 million. The number of new fixed-line broadband users more than tripled to reach 4.34 million.

Earlier this month, the telecom giant, coupled with two other major Chinese mobile operators -- China Mobile and China Telecom, vowed to speed up its broadband networks and lower average internet service fees this year.