It was formed in August 1999 by the Chinese government to enable inward investments to build high speed Internet communications in the country.

The company started as a wholesaler for high-speed data networks in 1999, headquartered in Shanghai[citation needed].

The combined company has all the assets of China Netcom, plus Unicom's nationwide GSM network with 125 million subscribers, as well as its smaller dial-up and ADSL ISP business.

China Netcom became a wholly owned subsidiary of China Unicom and the listings of its shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and its American depositary receipt Shares on the New York Stock Exchange were withdrawn.

[5] China Netcom and its domain cnc-noc.net have been noted in the West as a source of e-mail spam and host of spamvertised websites for products such as pills, porn and poker.