From January 20, Chinese mobile phone users in 150 cities nationwide will enjoy cheaper call fees, with rates dropping from 0.8 to 0.6 yuan (about 0.1 to 0.07 US dollar) per minute.

The price cut was initiated by the China Mobile Communication Corp (CMCC), the most profitable outgrowth of China Telecom..

It aims to attract more mobile phone users and provide them better service, said a CMCC manager.

The CMCC started offering a calling card last August, for which mobile phone users must deposit a certain sum in advance for their mobile phone charges.

With the card, the mobile phone users can call local or long distance to any of the 150 cities.

By the end of 1999, the CMCC had over 38 million mobile phone customers.