Chinese phone users are now less reluctant to check their phone
bills as efforts to reform the monopoly industry resulted in a 13.6
percent drop in 2007 in overall telecommunication charges in
China.
It means the cost have reduced by half in the past five years,
said Information Industry Minister Wang Xudong at a work conference
on Wednesday. He added that "a preliminary market-oriented pricing
system has been established."
He did not mention the specific amount or how the cost was
calculated. A spokesman for the ministry was not available for
comment.
As more Chinese accused the telecommunication industry,
dominated by several state-owned giants, for reaping handsome
profits by charging monopolistic prices, the government urged the
companies to offer lower pricing packages.
China Mobile started to offer charge packages that offer free
incoming calls in February, a major change promoted by the Ministry
of Information Industry early in 2007. Similar packages were also
adopted by rival China Unicom. Chinese mobile operators used to
charge both the caller and the receiver.
Price cuts did not bring down the mobile operator profits
because the 539 million Chinese mobile users were encouraged to
make more phone calls. China Mobile registered 37.9 billion yuan
net profits (5.19 billion US dollars), up 25.7 percent in the first
half.
But the fixed line operators reported profit losses as mobile
operators won more customers with cheaper prices. The rapid
proliferation of mobile phones in China has made the traditional
fixed-line less attractive. While 39.9 percent of the population
have a mobile phone, only 28.3 percent have fixed-lines.
The telecom business volume reached 1,680.86 billion yuan, up 27
percent in the first 11 months last year, and the business revenue
amounted to 663.92 billion yuan, up 10.9 percent.
(Xinhua News Agency January 3, 2008)
