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

The Chinese government on Tuesday held a public hearing on cutting mobile phone domestic roaming charges, but the final pricing scheme remained suspended due to divided opinions.

A total of 18 representatives, including five consumers, five telecommunication operator officials and three experts made submissions at the hearing.

Two plans, which suggested price cuts ranging from 14.9 percent to 63 percent, were under discussion.

Plan A proposes cutting the 0.2 yuan (US$0.03) per minute surcharge for roaming services, while plan B also scraps the surcharge and proposes a charge of 0.7 yuan per minute for making calls and 0.3 yuan for receiving calls for all users.

Shen Changzheng, who represented mobile phone users, said it was unreasonable to set service charge standards on the basis of administrative divisions.

"Roaming charges should be scrapped. Instead, an equal charge should be imposed for domestic roaming services and local services on a step-by-step basis," he said.

Most of the China's 539 million mobile subscribers pay from 33 to 50 percent more for calls made or received on their cell phones when they travel to another provinces.

Zhu Jinlin, from the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said the fee reduction proposed by plan B was too small.

Profit margins for both China Mobile and China Unicom should be reduced to 15 percent, but the mobile phone industry in China had 19-percent net profits, he added. "Telecommunication operators should not be huge profit seekers."

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