CRI听力：China's Mobile Users May Enjoy Scrapping Roaming Fees

Mobile phone subscribers in China are likely to enjoy lower, if not non-charged, roaming fees of domestic calls, as a public hearing will be held soon in Beijing.

Experts believe the long-awaited hearing, which draws wide attention from the society, will effectively reduce the cost of roaming fees, benefiting the ordinary consumers. Chen Xi reports.

Reporter:

Consumers in China have long been complaining that domestic roaming service charges by China's two monopolistic mobile phone providers, China Mobile and China Unicom, are unreasonable and should be scrapped, or at least lowered.

According to reports by the Xinhua News Agency, the profit margin of Chinese mobile operators has been above 20%, while that of major runners in other countries is no more than 10%. In the United States, the figure is barely 1%.

Given the telecom industry has reaped handsome profit by charging monopolistic prices in the country, the government and the academic circle are urging the companies to offer lower pricing packages and free incoming calls.

Professor Kan Kaili is from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications.

"By the charging policies in other countries, same price for same network is widely implemented. In other words, calling price remains unchanged wherever you are in the country."

He adds that roaming fees have ruled out in many countries, such as Australia, the United States and many European countries. Even in China's Asian neighbors as Japan and India, the fees charged in this regard are very small.

But the professor also says the complete cancellation of roaming fees in China shows little possibility due to different levels of economic development and network construction for telecommunications.

The National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Information Industry have decided to hold a public hearing on Tuesday to discuss two plans to reduce roaming fees by some 13 to 80 percent.

Chen Xi, CRI news.