After China Mobile announced a decrease of its international roaming fee at the beginning of July 2013, Chinese telecom operator China Unicom now says it will lower international roaming fees in 39 countries and regions, with an average decrease rate of 47%.

After the roaming fee decrease, China Unicom's users who travel to countries and regions like the U.S., South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan will pay less than CNY1 per minute when dialing to or receiving phone calls from mainland China.

For users who like surfing the mobile Internet, China Unicom offers more attractive international data roaming fees. In 11 most visited Asia Pacific countries and regions, China Unicom launched a 66M package for CNY66 on networks of designated carriers; meanwhile, the company launched a 20M daily package for CNY70 in 36 countries and regions.

Starting from 2009, China Unicom has implemented four rounds of price decreases, with an average decrease rate of about 50% for each round. At present, there are over 700 carriers around the world and China Unicom cooperates with 576 of them in 249 countries and regions in opening roaming services.

At the beginning of July 2013, China Mobile unveiled a CNY18 daily international data roaming package in 63 countries and regions frequented by Chinese travelers. Meanwhile, the company said it would include 62 countries and regions, including Canada and Russia, into its CNY1, CNY2, and CNY3 international roaming fee zones. China Mobile lowered fees for 11 times over the past three years.

In 2012, the Chinese mainland claimed to have 81.38 million outbound travelers, 850,000 people working abroad, and 1.55 million students studying abroad, which indicated an increasing demand for international roaming.