China's Ministry of Information Industry (MII) and National
Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) jointly announced on
Wednesday the country's mobile roaming service charges would be
lowered starting from Mar. 1 amid fervor of consumer expectation to
entirely abolish them.
Mobile phone users would be charged 0.6 yuan (about 8 U.S.
cents) per minute for making calls outside the local service area,
and 0.4 yuan, or about 5 cents, per minute for receiving calls when
they travel to another province, according to the new plan.
It compares with current charges of 1.3 yuan to 1.5 yuan per
minute for the roaming service for Chinese cell-phone users under
different payment schemes, prepaid or paying monthly.
This means that the country's 539 million mobile subscribers
would be able to enjoy price cuts ranging from 54 percent to 73
percent from next month on, or no later than May 1.
Service providers could be allowed to delay the implementation
of the new plan due to time needed for technological upgrading of
their charging systems.
The announcement also made it clear that no further fees, which
are currently an additional 0.07 yuan, or 1 U.S. cent, for every
six seconds, would be charged if the roaming service occupies a
long-distance phone line.
The country's move to cut such charges is in response to
increasing complaints from mobile phone users about the telecom
industry reaping handsome profits by charging monopolistic
prices.
Previously, a public hearing was held on cutting charges for
domestic mobile roaming services in January to discuss two proposed
plans, which have aroused heated discussions and disputes.
The hearing was attended by five consumers -- including one from
Beijing -- as well as representatives from mobile service
providers, experts, scholars and relevant government officials.
The two ministries in charge said most representatives at the
hearing had supported plan B, which offers more favorable price
cuts than plan A, except service providers, who wanted plan A.
The final plan was a further improvement based on plan B, which
proposes a charge of 0.7 yuan per minute for making calls and 0.3
yuan for receiving calls for all users, according to the two
ministries.
A consumer representative by the name of Shen Changzheng, who
attended the hearing, said the final plan "was acceptable, but was
not up to expectations of consumers", adding "there was still a
great gap."
Local services currently cost 0.4 yuan, or 5 U.S. cents, per
minute for users paying monthly, and 0.6 yuan, or 8 U.S. cents, for
those under prepaid schemes
Some users actually enjoyed free incoming calls thanks to
service packages offered by service providers, again efforts made
to lower mobile service charges amid mounting consumer
complaints.
And there is indeed some gap between roaming service charges and
local service charges under the new plan.
An online survey conducted by the MII in May 2007 showed that
about 63.77 percent of 30,000 respondents supported an equal charge
for domestic roaming services and local services.
Only about 22.55 percent considered it reasonable to pay an
additional 0.01 to 0.1 yuan per minute for roaming services.
Mobile service providers had explained such service fees were
charged to cover the extra operational costs incurred when
cross-province calls were transferred from one local operator to
another.
Experts, however, said new technologies had lowered operational
costs - some argued roaming calls actually incur no extra cost for
the operators.
(Xinhua News Agency February 14, 2008)
