China Unicom Ltd., China's second-largest mobile carrier by subscribers, said Friday it will shortly follow larger competitor China Mobile (Hong Kong) Ltd. in cutting rates in Beijing.

"We are already making the necessary regulatory and marketing preparations," said Shang Bing, president of China Unicom, when asked if the company will follow China Mobile in cutting its rates in the city.

China Mobile cut the price of some of its service packages in Beijing last week by as much as 50 percent.

Shang, who declined to comment on the size of Unicom's tariff cuts, said the move wouldn't put significant pressure on the company's monthly average revenue per user.

"The rate cuts won't have an effect on a nationwide level, as Beijing rates have been high compared with other provinces," Shang said.

Brokerage CLSA Asia Pacific-Markets said in a research report last week that price cuts would have an insignificant financial impact on the two carriers as they applied only to Beijing.

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