China's largest mobile telecom operator China Mobile is to lower its call charges for Beijing subscribers, said sources with the Ministry of Information industry (MII) on Monday.

The charge for both making and answering phone calls will be reduced greatly according to the reform which will begin in May, said the MII.

Another mobile telecom operator China Unicom also plans to reduce call charges for Beijing subscribers.

Phone charges had been held under tight control by the government until earlier this year when the MII introduced a market mechanism.

Owing to intense competition, operators have sought various ways to lower call charges to attract subscribers despite government regulations. The call charges in areas outside Beijing have become relatively low.

But Beijing is still one of the places in China with the highest mobile fees as operators in the area had to rigidly follow the price made by government. The mobile fee per minute in Beijing is about 0.6 yuan per minute.

Source: Xinhua