China Mobile Communications Corp., the country's largest mobile phone operator, launched caller-pays mobile phone service in Tibet Autonomous Region starting today, the Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday.

Zhuo Feng, deputy general manager of China Mobile's Tibet subsidiary, was quoted as saying that Tibet is the first province-level region in China to launch a caller-pays scheme "unconditionally."

Current billing arrangements in China's mobile service require both the caller and receiver to share the cost of the call. In some promotional caller-pays services, mobile phone users can receive phone calls for free with their existing two-way billing package.

"Overall fees to customers are expected to decrease by more than 30 percent after the move, and we will improve profit margins by expanding the customer base," Zhuo said.

China Mobile and China Unicom, the nation's two mobile carriers, have been rolled out special packages offering free incoming calls in their Beijing and Guangdong service areas.

Last month the central regulator said it would only approve mobile operators' new billing plans with "free incoming calls," but the operators are unlikely to launch the caller-pays service nationwide for a few years.