China Mobile plans to lower int'l roaming fee

Following the move of cutting the domestic roaming fees effective from Mar. 1, China Mobile<941>, the leading mobile operator in the country, is planning to lower the international roaming fee and reduce the number of its price plans in a bid to better serve its customers.

Wang Jianzhou, general manager of China Mobile, said at an interview during the ongoing CPPCC session that the company is in talks with overseas partners on lowering its international roaming fee. However, he did not reveal any schedule.

In response to the influence of a lowered domestic roaming fee on the operator, Wang said the cutting would definitely affect the company's revenue, but it will seek other revenue sources to make up for the loss.

He expects that the cutting of roaming fee can attract more mobile subscribers, and the broadband and SMS services will also help to offset the loss.

Currently, there are half a billion mobile users in China, of which 370 million are China Mobile's subscribers.