China Telecom, the country's third-biggest mobile phone carrier, will cut the mobile phone roaming fee in Taiwan and Macau up to 83 percent from next month.

The move makes China Telecom the first carrier to cut the per minute rate to 1 yuan (15 US cents) or less.

China Telecom's new roaming fee in the regions will drop 65 percent on average.

Each local call in Taiwan and Macau will cost 50 cents a minute.

The call back to the Chinese mainland costs 1 yuan per minute.

China Telecom, the country's biggest fixed-line phone operator, obtained a mobile phone license last year.

It is trying to play catch up with its larger rivals China Mobile and China Unicom.