BEIJING China Monday announced plans to cut charges for international telephone calls and Internet access by more than half, starting January 1, AFP quoted Xinhua as reporting.

The reduction covers all telecommunications businesses except mobile phones and local calls, the official agency said.

International call charges will fall by more than 50 percent, to 0.80 yuan (under 10 U.S. cents) for six seconds. Calls to Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan will have a flat rate of 0.20 yuan for six seconds, Xinhua said.

Currently, international calls out of China are expensive. For instance, a phone call from Beijing to New York costs 18.4 yuan (2.2 dollars) per minute, about three times the charge to make the same call out of New York, Xinhua noted.

Charges for domestic long-distance calls will be fixed at 0.07 yuan per six seconds. Currently charges differ according to distances based on calculation by minute. The telephone fees in rural areas will be lowered by a large margin, Xinhua said without elaborating.

An official with the Ministry of Information Industry was quoted as saying the new pricing will be applied starting January 1 but the deadline is set at March 1, given the "complexity of the readjustment."

Xinhua was silent on the motive behind the cuts, noting only that the sector recorded a 30 percent growth last year and that charges have remained high thanks to China telecom's monopoly.

Last month, officials had spoken of the moves to slash telecom charges saying it was meant to stimulate growth in the industry and prepare for competition after joining the World Trade Organization (WTO). As part of efforts to join the WTO, China agreed to allow up to 49 percent foreign ownership in mobile voice and data services, and 50 percent share in value-added services, including the Internet.