Monopoly in telecom sector must be ended

Many users have called the price-reduction plans of the three major telecom service providers - China Mobile Communications, China United Telecommunications and China Telecom - "insincere" and "ill-designed". Following the call of Premier Li Keqiang for cheaper and faster Internet connections in the country on Wednesday, the telecom giants on Friday promised lower rates for their new cellular packages, but have offered favorable prices only for services in the evening when most people stay at home and have wifi connections. Comments:

The telecom service providers' plans to cut prices should be the beginning of deepening reform and transformation of the country's monopoly industries. In its aftermath, many more State-owned enterprises will be forced to cut the prices of their products and services, because gone are days when they could exploit favorable policies to rake in huge profits.

Daily Sunshine, May 17

One is not supposed to accuse the telecom giants of being insincere, because they did bring forward various price-reduction plans in a short time. But such practices show they are primarily guided by administrative forces rather than market forces. The solution to the problem is to allow private capital easier entry into the market in a bid to end the monopoly in the telecom sector.

Beijing News, May 18

To some extent, Li's repeated calls for better Internet services show the telecom industry is far from being market-oriented, because it has failed to offer reasonable prices for its products and services. In fact, some users are unhappy with the unbroken monopoly in the sector rather than the newly released cellular packages. Such complaints are unlikely to end if the telecom market remains dominated by a handful of companies.

Beijing Times, May 18