Chinese govt reportedly says mobile firms may adopt caller-pays fee plan
China's Ministry of Information Industry said the country's mobile-phone carriers are likely to overhaul their tariff structure to charge users only for outgoing calls, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
The adoption of the "caller pays" policy in areas of China that fulfill certain conditions "has become a development trend," the Xinhua report Tuesday cited an unidentified ministry official as saying.
Mobile-phone users in China now pay for both outgoing and incoming calls, though some operators are offering subscription packages that allow users to pay an extra monthly fee to get a certain amount of free incoming calls.
China Mobile Ltd.'s unit in Guangdong province last week launched a tariff deal that allowed unlimited, charge-free incoming calls for an extra CNY50 monthly fee, and local media have reported that similar tariff structures could be expanded into areas like Beijing.
The ministry official said fee reforms will involve improving the market's role in price-setting, with the government retaining control.
In 2000, talk of a "caller pays" policy hit share prices of China Mobile and its competitor in the mobile market, China Unicom Ltd.
But doing away with charges for incoming calls could help China's mobile operators because they would promote increased usage of mobile phones, said Dave Carini, a Beijing-based analyst at Maverick China Research, a telecom, media and technology market research firm.
He added the possible change in mobile tariffs could weigh on fixed-line carriers China Netcom Group Corp. and China Telecom Corp. The two companies compete with mobile carriers for low-end users by offering budget wireless services based on the Personal Handyphone System, which is akin to a citywide network of cordless phones.
"There's been a strong push from the (telecom) companies to have more freedom and flexibility in setting prices and competing, and the ministry is acknowledging that such reform is necessary," said Carini.
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