Li Jian, an after-sale service engineer at an electronic instrument company, checked his cell phone bill for January. During this month his roaming time was 192 minutes. Thanks to his subscription package, he only needed to pay 96 yuan ($13.33), or 0.5 yuan ($0.07) per minute, plus 3 yuan ($0.42) per month for the subscription. Normally, he would pay 1.4 yuan ($0.19) for making every minute of long-distance calls or incoming calls and 0.7 yuan ($0.1) per minute for making local calls. During the last six months, Li's roaming fees were 184.5 yuan ($25.63) at the most and 50 yuan ($6.94) at the least.

But next month, he may see some difference on his bill. On February 13, the Ministry of Information Industry and National Development and Reform Commission jointly announced the country's maximum rate for mobile roaming service charges would be lowered starting from March 1.

According to the new plan, domestic mobile phone users will be charged a maximum 0.6 yuan ($0.08) per minute for making calls outside their local service areas and 0.4 yuan ($0.06) per minute for incoming calls.

Before the adjustment, when roaming, post-pay users had to pay 1.3-1.4 yuan ($0.18-$0.19) per minute for making or receiving long distance calls and 0.6-0.7 yuan ($0.08-0.1) per minute for making local calls. Pre-pay users must pay 1.5 yuan ($0.21) per minute for making or receiving long distance calls and 0.8 yuan ($0.11) per minute for making local calls.

This means that the country's 539 million mobile subscribers will be able to enjoy price cuts ranging from 54 percent to 73 percent from next month on or no later than May 1. Service providers are allowed to delay the implementation of the new plan due to time needed for technological upgrades of their charging systems.

The announcement also made it clear that no further fees, which are currently an additional 0.07 yuan ($0.01) for every six seconds, would be charged if the roaming service occupies a long-distance phone line.

This move to cut such charges is in response to increasing complaints from mobile phone users about the telecom industry reaping handsome profits by charging monopolistic prices.

Fees cut after hearing

On January 22, a public hearing was held in Beijing for the discussion of charges for domestic mobile roaming services.

A total of 18 representatives, including five consumers, five telecommunications 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 proposed cutting the 0.2 yuan ($0.03) per minute surcharge for roaming services, while plan B also would have scrapped the surcharge and proposed a charge of 0.7 yuan ($0.1) per minute for making calls and 0.3 yuan ($0.4) for receiving calls for all users.

The two ministries in charge said most representatives at the hearing supported plan B, which offered more favorable price cuts than plan A, except for service providers, who wanted plan A.

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

High fees criticized

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

"Roaming fees are unjustifiably high and lowering the price cap would be in line with the global trend," said Zeng Jianqiu, professor at Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications.