CRI听力:China Mobile Lowers Its Int'l Roaming Fee

China Mobile has announced that it will charge no more than 3 yuan or 0.49 US cents per minute for all its international roaming fees in the 242 countries and regions where it runs services.

The carrier, which has 730 million mobile subscribers, said that it is cutting roaming charges in 62 countries, including Canada, Russia and Myanmar.

According to China Mobile, clients in Singapore will now pay 0.99 yuan a minute to call the Chinese mainland, a 75 percent decrease from the previous 3.99 yuan a minute. Data traffic fees in 63 countries were cut by 50 percent to 5 yuan a megabyte.

In general, under the new price adjustment policy, the fee for CMCC users making calls overseas will be no more than 3 yuan per minute.

Regarding the data flow volume roaming fee, Lu Wenchang, deputy general manager of the market operating department of China Mobile says they have made new products tailored for the 63 countries and regions most favored by mainland Chinese consumers, including Hong Kong, Taiwan, the US and Japan.

"The 18 yuan flow package user can use 5 megabytes of flow everyday. We made some tests on the flow volume package service. This package can provide 2 to 3 hours of internet use when our clients are at these countries and regions."

Xing Hongtao, vice manager of market price administration of China Mobile says that the lowering of the price of roaming is in line with market demand.

"There are more and more Chinese people going overseas. Firstly, in 2012, more than 83 million Chinese traveled overseas, showing a growth of 18.4 percent compare to 2011. Secondly, the number of students going abroad to study in 2012 reached 1.55 million, a rise of 8.39 percent compare to 2012. Plus, in 2012, the number of people gong abroad to work also rose by 3.66 percent compared to the same period last year. So, in general, Chinese people are more and more connected with the international community in terms of going abroad."

China Mobile lowered international roaming fees for the ninth time since 2010 in the hope of maintaining a high level of user loyalty amid increasingly intense domestic competition.

China Mobile says it was able to negotiate less expensive roaming deals for its users with international operators because of the increasing number of Chinese people going abroad.

For CRI, I am Li Dong.