Carriers scramble to answer Li's call

'Big Three' telecom companies pledge faster speeds, lower rates for communications services

Domestic telecommunications carriers on Friday raced to cut charges for broadband Internet, mobile data traffic and roaming services after Premier Li Keqiang called for cheaper, faster Web connections for the country.

Li's dissatisfaction also prompted the industry regulator to set an ambitious target of having most cities connected to the Internet via ultra-fast optical fiber services providing speeds of 100 megabytes per second within two years.