It will be at least three years before the cost of a phone call from Hong Kong to the mainland is the same as a call from Hong Kong to the United States, according to Ricky Wong Wai-kay, chairman of City Telecom.
City Telecom, Hong Kong's second-largest long-distance service provider, has cut charges on calls to China in response to a similar price cut announced on Thursday by competitor New T&T.
However, Mr Wong said there were no more significant price cuts on the horizon and he expected that prices next year would not come down by any more than 20 per cent.
'People using long-distance services have become apathetic about the change in prices as the price reductions only work out to be a few cents a minute,' Mr Wong said.
'Any further price cuts would only be offered by operators who have problems stimulating demand.'
On Thursday, fixed-line operator New T&T, owned by cable television-to-property conglomerate Wharf (Holdings), unveiled promotional price cuts on its long-distance telephone services to the mainland in anticipation of Beijing's desire to reduce prices of basic telecommunications services.