SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China will issue three licenses for high-speed third-generation mobile phone services and encourage a restructuring of leading telecoms companies, including a merger of China Unicom (0762.HK) and Netcom (0906.HK), the government said on Saturday.

The government will also encourage fixed-line telecoms leader China Telecom (0728.HK) to buy China Unicom's CDMA wireless network, it said in a statement on its website (http://www.gov.cn).

The statement did not specify whether the restructuring would involve the state-owned companies or their listed units, but analysts have said mergers in the long-awaited move were likely to involve the parent firms.

A sector revamp could unleash billions of dollars in spending for gearmakers such as Motorola (MOT.N) and Nortel (NT.TO) as newly merged firms expand networks to compete.

(Reporting by Edwin Chan; Writing by Edmund Klamann; Editing by Lincoln Feast)