Phone Card

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the Ministry of Information Industry (MII) said they would hold public hearings this month to discuss a new scheme to lower roaming fees.

Government-set roaming tariffs have long been a target of criticism in China.

Although a de facto caller-pays scheme has replaced the two-way charging system— in which both caller and receiver pay for calls — the roaming fees have remained largely unchanged for years.

Currently, China Mobile users typically pay RMB0.60 a minute to receive calls if they travel to another city.

Last Maythe NDRC and the MII held an opinion poll.

The poll found 64% of respondents want roaming fees scrapped.

According to Guotai Junan Securities research, the roaming fees could be cut by as much as 47%.

Reform would have a bigger impact on China Mobile, the larger of the two cellular operators, as roaming fees are one of its major revenue sources.

Li Gang, vice-president of China Unicom and former chief of China Mobile’s Guangdong subsidiary, reportedly said China Mobile’s revenue from roaming fees was RMB49 billion($6.71 billion) in 2005, while Unicom generated only billions of yuan.

That accounted for about one-fifth of China Mobile’s total revenue of RMB243 billion in 2005. In 2006, its total revenue was RMB295.4 billion with a net profit of RMB66 billion.

Lu Tingjie, a professor at the Beijing University of Post and Telecommunications, said roaming fees in China are ‘unjustifiably high’ and lowering price is in line with the global trend.
Source: Jongo News

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