Mobile phone users in China will only need to pay five yuan (about 65 US cents) a month from July 1 to retain a mobile phone number during the suspension of service, instead of the current fee of 20 yuan, according to the Ministry of Information Industry (MII).

Other services used during inactive periods will be free of charge, said the ministry.

China's mobile phone subscription has been soaring for years, with new subscribers hitting 6.5 million per month in the first quarter of 2007. Yet, high communication fees remain a headache for the country's 480 million mobile users, whose complaints have pushed regulators into talks with major operators into scaling back fees.

In April, the MII and the National Development and Reform Commission (NCRC) announced new fee policies due in December that are expected to make incoming calls free and reduce costs for inter-provincial calls.

Mobile phone users in China currently have to subscribe to "fee packages" and pay in advance for incoming calls.

Inter-province calls will be evaluated and the new fees published in December, according to the two ministries.

Analysts say that China Mobile's dominance in the mobile phone market has made it difficult to reduce fees. The leading telecommunications company had gained a 44 percent market share by last April, a figure which is still on the rise.

Lower charges for mobile phone users highlight the need for a deeper reform of the telecoms sector, said He Xia, a MII senior engineer.

(Xinhua News Agency June 9, 2007)