CRI听力:China to Reduce Broadband Prices: MIIT

China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom are expected to slash broadband charges across the country. It will happen this fall.

Wen Ku with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology says the ministry is supervising the price cut.

"About the charges of fixed broadband services, we will urge companies in all levels to reduce their prices, and the nation-wide change should be completed by the end of October. It is expected that the prices for broadband speeds between 50 and 100 Mbps will be reduced about 30 percent, and the price cut for 20 Mbps will be about 20 percent."

According to the ministry's plan, average prices for mobile phone access will also sharply decrease, a year-on-year cut of at least 30 percent, by end of this year.

The latest data shows that China's mobile phone users have accounted for 94.5 percent of total population.

The government will carry out other measures as well, including legislation and planning to lower telecom operators' costs for network upgrading, and remove barriers that impede the progress of broadband construction.

In terms of the elevation of broadband speed, Wen Ku says fixed broadband subscribers can enjoy free upgrades in the following months.

"For fixed broadband, copper cable users in the regions where conditions are met, can enjoy a free update of internet speed to 4Mbps. We aim to speed up service for 20 million users by the end of October. For fiber users, we will double their current broadband speed free of charge, expecting to benefit over 46 million users by the end of this year."

In May, companies began cutting prices for international roaming services, with an average reduction of 80 percent.

The new moves are in accordance with the guidelines of the Internet Plus campaign approved by China's State Council.

The campaign aims to push forward industrial innovation by integrating mobile Internet, cloud computing, and big data with modern manufacturing.

Serving as a new engine for economic growth, this new industrial mode needs the high-speed broadband network to support the open sharing platforms, which allows the integration of traditional industries and the Internet.

For CRI, I'm Huang Shan.