Telecommunications service charges in China will be further cut down under the supervision of relevant government agencies as part of antitrust efforts, a Chinese newspaper reported Monday, citing unnamed sources.

During the remaining four months of the year, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MITT) will move forward to facilitate further cuts in telecommunications charges, the Economic Information Daily reported Monday.

An unnamed source close to the NDRC was quoted as saying in the report that "telecommunications charges have long been a focal and key point of complaints by consumers," and is probably listed as a prioritized field for antitrust probes.

The NDRC, the country's top economic planner, is likely to launch anti-monopoly probes into relevant enterprises, and moreover, take measures to further lower fees by the year-end, said the report, according to which the MITT, the country's top industry watchdog, will also make efforts to push forward the country's telecommunication pricing reform in the second half of this year.

The NDRC did not respond to the Global Times seeking confirmation of the report by press time and calls to the MITT went unanswered Monday.

The speculation has not been confirmed by any of the three telecom operators.

"We have twice cut the international roaming fees so far this year, and more fee cuts are less likely in the remainder of the year," a staff with China Mobile told the Global Times on Monday requesting anonymity.

China Telecom and China Unicom, the other two telecom carriers in the country, told the Global Times on Monday that they have no information on more fee reductions.

The report, if correct, may indicate more moves by the NDRC, which has recently fired a slew of salvos against a number of foreign dairy heavyweights and gold jewelry retailers involved in price-fixing behavior.

In a CCTV program aired Sunday, Xu Kunlin, head of the commission's pricing department, disclosed that the petroleum, telecom, automobile and banking sectors will all come within the purview of the commission's anti-monopoly probes.

Xu's statement is also seen as hinting a continuation of the commission's probe into the telecom firms. In November 2011, the NDRC announced China Telecom and China Unicom were under antitrust investigation, but final results are yet to be announced.

Fu Liang, a Beijing-based independent telecom analyst, noted however that the price cuts in telecommunications services have already begun in recent years amid growing competition.

For instance, the broadband Internet access tariff across the country has on average fallen by 15 percent in the first half compared to a year earlier, according to Fu's calculation.

Further fee slashes may be possible, and more down-to-earth efforts are required from  government bodies to foster a healthy market environment to benefit both industry players and consumers, Fu said.