Mobile phone users in Beijing are in mixed feelings over the first cut of phone fees to be offered by the local wireless telecom provider from Thursday.

The current policy of cell phone fee in place in Beijing since 1994 has remained among the highest in China. Subscribers to China Mobile's Gotone service have to pay 50 yuan (US$6.25) per month in subscription fees and 0.4 yuan (5 U.S. cents) per minute for both receiving and making local calls.

The company waged promotion of its four varieties of new fee packages on local media on Tuesday.

"The new fee method is warmly welcomed, but it comes so late and could be better," China Daily quoted a lawyer named Qiu Baochang as saying on Wednesday.

Even with the discount, mobile phone users in Beijing still have to pay more on the same quality of service than that in other big cities such as Guangzhou and Shanghai.

For example, Gotone users in Beijing will be offered a deal of 108 yuan (US$13.5) per month for 360 minutes of local calls from Wednesday. However, users in Shanghai only pay 60 yuan (US$7.5) for the same length of calls.

In Guangzhou, the mobile operator allows users to receive calls for free.

Beijing users have long been disgruntled about the "unfair treatment," but cheered up by the local telecom company's first endeavor to catch up.

"The move is the first of its kind and the most attractive special offer designed by the company," Fan Yunjun, deputy managerof the Beijing Mobile Communication Company quoted by the Beijing News as saying.

He soothed users that there is room for further price cut, which depends on the company's operation cost and market growth.

He hoped that the fee cut could unleash the potential market demand for mobile service in the Chinese capital, which now has more than 15 million subscribers.

Beijing's two million Gotone users will be the primary beneficiary from the new fee policy, which could exclude Gotone's monthly subscription fee.

As China Mobile's only contender, China Unicom has also planned for a major price cut. The company has submitted the proposal to the industry regulator for approval.

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