The eight new rules are in place to safeguard customers' rights and break telecom monopoly, according to Wu Jichuan, head of the MII.

The government would punish bad performers, no matter how big or small the company, according to the rules, said the official.

The rules are targeting the most complained about problems like charging disputes, barriers for minor operators and conflicts between different regional carriers.

This is an active response to the complaints which concentrate on such dominant companies as China Telecom.

According to the new rules, the time limitation for handing in the monthly telephone charge would be extended to the full month compared with the current 20 days.

Presently, the telephone bills should be paid from the first day to the 20th of each month.

Telecom agents should adopt the new rules as early as this year with the deadline being June, 2002.

Customers who have had their telephone bills for long periods of time can request a copy of their bill from operators.

The country's telecom operators, both mobile and fixed-line, provide detailed lists for only long distance calls. The lists for local calls, are not available because of technical problems.

Although large sums of money are needed to readjust the equipment for detailed local phone lists, the ministry would push the operators to do so, said Wu.

Fixed-line operators, including China Telecom, China Railcom and China Unicom, should launch more convenient charging packages like fixed monthly charges and tariffs to give more choice to the customer.

Minor carriers, China Railcom and China Unicom, could start to adopt these practices this year.

On the mobile side, the ministry is also considering further reforms to the charging system.

China's mobile carriers now adopt a two-way standard charge which means the customer has to pay 0.40 yuan or 0.60 yuan (5 US cents or 7 US cents) per minute whenever the person receives or makes a call.

It is widely considered that the two-way charge should be changed to one-way, or the calling-party-pay system, which means only the dialer pays.

"The mobile carriers should introduce more charging tariffs to satisfy the needs of customers,'' Wu said.

Another problem is the charge for choosing telephone numbers, which should be eliminated shortly, he said.

The carriers and retail agents always add some special charges for the telephone numbers that sound good and auspicious.

Customers should have the right to choose the number they want without paying any special charges, according to the ministry.

With the launch of the new rules, customers can better protect their rights if aided with clear guidelines.

A special inspection team has also been formed, made up by senior officials of the ministry.

(People's Daily 08/03/2001)