(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-01-22 22:40

China has two mobile phone service providers - China Mobile and China Unicom. Increasing numbers of mobile phone users in China accuse them of reaping handsome profits by charging monopolistic prices.

Lu Wenchang, from China Mobile, argued that his company had reduced call charges by 62.1 percent in the last five years and that it was impossible to provide mobile services in such a vast country with no costs.

The average roaming cost of China Mobile and China Unicom was 0.0485 yuan in 2006, said Huang Xinyan, senior manager with the China Audit Certified Public Accountants.

Ding Ming, from China Unicom, said the ceiling on roaming services fees should be higher than that of local services as the cost was higher.

"Only 2.5 percent of China Unicom's mobile subscribers frequently use roaming services," he said. "That means only a small fraction of our customers can benefit from a fee reduction."

Zhu Zhengwu, from China Telecom, said plan B, which would no longer charge subscribers for long-distance calls when they were outside home provinces, may lead to people giving up fixed lines and turning to China Mobile for long-distance calls.

"The plan could help China Mobile monopolize the market with the substitution of fixed lines with mobile phones, which as a result will hurt the consumers' interests," he warned.

He said the government should provide the mobile license to the fixed lines operators.

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