Beijing subscribers of a popular China Mobile service will not pay for incoming calls from within the city starting today as part of the telecom giant's latest move to woo customers with price cuts.

 

The company's Beijing subsidiary said yesterday that its GoTone users, who are charged a monthly subscription of 50 yuan (US$6.5), will pay only for calls made. The mobile operator used to charge both the caller and the receiver.

 

The Ministry of Information Industry said last month that it would urge the nation's mobile operators to further slash charges and adopt the caller-pay-only model across the nation in two years.

 

"The new policy will benefit quite a few users," said Liu Zhe, an analyst with Analysys International, a Beijing-based IT consultancy firm, pointing out that some of its package deals already offer free incoming calls.

 

In February, China Mobile launched different service packages, costing from 99 yuan (US$13) to 299 yuan (US$39) in Beijing; and more than half of its customers now use packages that don't charge for incoming calls.

 

Rival China Unicom, too, offers packages which offer free incoming calls.

 

"The lowering of charges will help China Mobile maintain its growth momentum while encouraging more use of its services," said Liu.

 

China Mobile, the world's largest mobile carrier in terms of users, added 5.28 million subscribers in April alone, pushing its total users to 321.4 million by the end of last month.

 

(China Daily May 23, 2007)