China Unicom, one of the country's mobile service providers, announced a plan on Wednesday to offer free cell phone services valued at about 81 million yuan (about US$11.7 million) to an estimated 56,000 college freshmen from quake-hit regions.

According to China Unicom, each student using a special phone card will automatically get a 30-yuan monthly credit during their four years of college.

(Xinhua News Agency September 24, 2008)