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The carriers have been under pressure to respond
to Premier Li Keqiang's push to lower barriers to and expand
Internet access throughout the country, with Beijing keen to
make industries more efficient as the economy becomes more
services-oriented.
By slashing prices in the world's biggest smartphone market, the
carriers are set to increase the appeal of 4G beyond premium
users, and encourage more subscribers to use those faster speeds
to consume more data.
"This is really the year of mass market migration, so I think
it's a necessary step to make that happen," said Chris Lane, a
senior analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein in Hong Kong who covers
Asia-Pacific telecommunications.
"It's happened in every other market, the sky hasn't fallen. If
anything, industry profits have continued to grow, because data
demand will continue to grow," he said.
China Mobile Ltd, the country's biggest wireless carrier by
subscribers, said it would reduce mobile data prices by 35
percent or more by the end of 2015.
China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd plans a cut of 20 percent or more
per megabyte of data. China Telecom Corp Ltd, the smallest of
the three, said its subscriber costs for data will fall by an
average 30 percent per megabyte.
As of the end of March, China had 1.3 billion mobile subscribers
with half of those on 3G or 4G contracts. China Unicom and
Telecom also said they will lower broadband prices.
(Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
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