China Unicom, the country’s second largest mobile operator, said it has taken steps to reduce mobile data rates by 20 per cent compared to the end of last year, responding to political pressure from the country’s leadership in April.

China’s three operators in May committed to reducing data prices by 20-35 per cent, as well as improving network speeds. In April China’s Premier Li Keqiang criticised the mobile internet for being too expensive and not speedy enough.

China Unicom also has reduced data roaming tariffs on international, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan services by up to 80 per cent, with the launch of daily data packages, C114.net said.

The operator, with a 22 per cent share of the mobile market, said it has accelerated its 3G and 4G base station rollout plan to broaden its coverage, raising its target from 924,000 to 1.2 million sites by the end of the year. At the end of last year it had 565,000 3G/4G base stations.

The company had 289 million mobile connections at the end of June, down by six million from the end of 2014. Mobile broadband connections account for 54 per cent of its total connections. It added six million broadband users in Q1, according to GSMA Intelligence. Its 4G user based expanded by 10 million to 21 million from the beginning of the year.

China Unicom also has launched a free broadband upgrade programme in 31 provincial branches, which not only has improved network speeds but reduced tariffs, C114.net reported. More than 16 million users have benefited from the programme by the end of July, with another 55 million expected to be impacted by the end of the year.