China United Network Communications Group Co., Ltd ("China Unicom") was officially established on 6 January 2009 on the basis of the merger of former China Netcom and former China Unicom. It has subsidiaries in 31 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) across China and many countries and regions around the world. China Unicom mainly operates fixed and mobile communications service, domestic and international communications facilities, satellite IPLC service, data communications service, network access service, value-added telecom services and system integration services. It is ranked as the world leading telecom operators in terms of its customer base and market capitalization.