China Mobile lowers roaming fees

China Mobile Ltd announced on Monday that it will charge no more than 3 yuan (0.49 cents) per minute for all its international roaming fees in the 242 countries and regions where it runs services.

The carrier, which has 730 million mobile subscribers, said it cut roaming charges in 62 countries, including Canada, Russia and Myanmar.

China Mobile clients in Singapore will now pay 0.99 yuan a minute to call the Chinese mainland, a 75 percent decrease from the previous 3.99 yuan a minute. Data traffic fees in 63 countries were cut by 50 percent to 0.005 yuan a kilobyte.

The company lowered international roaming fees for the ninth time since 2010 inthe hope of maintaining high-end user loyalty amid increasingly intense domestic competition. It said it was able to negotiate less expensive roaming deals for its users with international operators because of the increasing number of Chinese going abroad.