A move to cut domestic mobile-phone roaming service charges has
apparently failed to satisfy the public, according to an online
poll.
Most respondents said the proposed charges were still too
high.
The Ministry of Information Industry and National Development
and Reform Commission announced the new charges on Wednesday.
With effect from March 1, domestic mobile-phone users will be
charged a maximum 0.6 yuan (8 cents) per minute for making calls
outside their local service area, and 0.4 yuan per minute for
receiving them.
This means that the country's 539 million mobile subscribers
will be able to enjoy price cuts ranging from 54 percent to 73
percent from next month, or no later than May 1.
The new charges, however, appear to have failed to satisfy most
consumers, who want the roaming charges to be completely
scrapped.
An online survey conducted yesterday by Sina.com, one of the
country's most popular news portals, showed that nearly 85 percent
of the 50,000 respondents regarded the roaming fees "still too
high".
Just 1.2 percent said they were "low enough", while 14.6 percent
considered them to be "reasonable".
The move to cut charges follows increasing complaints that the
telecom industry "is reaping huge profits at the expense of phone
users".
Last month, a public hearing was held to discuss two proposed
plans on cutting charges. It was attended by five consumers -
including one from Beijing - as well as representatives from
service providers, experts, scholars and government officials.
This plan announced on Wednesday is based on one discussed at
the hearing, which proposed a charge of 0.7 yuan per minute for
making calls and 0.3 yuan for receiving them, according to the two
ministries.
Service providers said some users actually enjoy free incoming
calls depending on the packages offered.
The providers said the fees are based on the extra costs
incurred when calls have to be transferred from one operator to
another. Experts, however, said new technologies had lowered costs,
and some argued that roaming calls actually incur no extra costs
for operators.
(China Daily-Xinhua News Agency, February 15, 2008)
