China’s International Roaming Fees are Really, Really Low

It’s no secret that China’s “big three” telecom carriers (China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom) offer local calling and texting rates that make foreigners green with envy. Mobile-to-mobile calling and texting in China are practically free, 3G service is shockingly cheap, and landlines — well, you don’t even want to know.

And now, you can add international roaming rates to the list of things to be jealous of. Following a series of price cuts this spring, all three of China’s mobile carriers offer extremely low roaming rates to customers who have traveled abroad but want to call or text home.

Take, for example, China Mobile (China’s most popular wireless carrier). At their current prices, customers in the US, South Korea, and Singapore can make calls to and receive calls from China for 0.99 RMB/minute, or about $0.16 US. Most European countries and Japan are covered by a plan that allows China Mobile customers to pay 1.99 RMB/minute for calls home ($0.31 US). Calls to the local area are even cheaper; if you’re in the US, you can use your China Mobile phone to make calls to US numbers for as little as 0.59 RMB/minute ($0.09 US).

Texting is even cheaper. Receiving texts is free everywhere, and sending a text home to China from most areas of the US or Europe will cost between 0.19 and 0.99 RMB ($0.03-$0.16 US). Texting and calling countries other than China is also inexpensive for China Mobile customers, if not quite as cheap as calling home.

China Unicom and China Telecom also offer comparable rates. According to this New York Times article, the low prices are possible because these companies can bring such massive customer numbers to bear; nearly 900 million between the three of them.

The deals do vary by local carrier and location, though, and traveling to some of the more obscure locations will cost you. Travel to Uzebekistan or Serbia, for example, and you’ll be paying a pricey 59.99 RMB/minute ($9.30 US) on your China Mobile phone to call your friends in China. But major travel destinations are nearly all covered by the cheaper rates.

[Image source: Digital East Asia]