Well there is good news in store for travellers here in China.

 

　　China Mobile service provider has just announced it has slashed international roaming fees in another 62-countries and regions.

 

　　Xie Zhao has the details:

 

　　China Mobile has announced it will charge no more than 3-yuan per minute for all of its international roaming fees across 242-countries and regions it runs services in.

 

　　Xing Hongtao is deputy manager at the pricing management office of the marketing department in China Mobile.

 

　　He says the demand for roaming services has massively increased as more Chinese nationals travel overseas:

 

　　"First of all, the number of mainland residents' roaming overseas hit more than 83 million, up 18.4% from 2011. Secondly, the number of students studying abroad reached 1.55 million, up 8.39% year-on-year. Thirdly, the number of Chinese citizens working abroad has risen to 850 thousand, up 3.66 percent.

 

　　Generally speaking, the whole international exchange has become closer."

 

　　However, a number of subscribers say they are perplexed about international roaming prices and the high fee.

 

　　Lu Wenchang is deputy manager in at China Mobile's marketing department.

 

　　He says overseas operators have put more emphasis on Chinese subscribers' needs:

 

　　"It has become a trend for global carriers' revenue to grow slowly. According to our statistics, the average revenue growth of global top ten carriers is only about 1.3%. With the internet expanding and carriers' cost surging, profit margins of the carriers have decreased. If we have some cheese, multiple carriers in different countries and regions would like to share the cheese."

 

　　Lu says a deal has been reached with carriers in other countries and regions to offer three categories of international roaming services.

 

　　This means when subscribers are abroad dialing back to the Chinese mainland or receiving international roaming calls, they will be charged one of the three prices.

 

　　They come in at just under 1-yuan, just under 2-yuan and just under 3-yuan per minute, depending on which area they are in.

 

　　For example, China Mobile clients in Singapore will now pay 0.99 yuan per minute to call the Chinese mainland.

 

　　At the same time, data traffic fees in 63-countries have been cut by 50-percent.

 

　　China Mobile has lowered international roaming fees for the ninth time since 2010.

 

　　The company says the cuts are aimed at maintaining high-end user loyalty amid increasingly intense domestic competition.

 

　　For CRI, this is Xie Zhao.