MIIT pledges action on irregular Internet charges
China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) pledged Wednesday to strengthen control over irregular charges and abuse of dominant positions in the telecommunications industry, but experts said Thursday that pricing is not the main issue.
The main concern is who has the power to determine the prices, the market or the carriers, Wang Zhongmei, associate research professor at Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times Thursday.
Sun Lijian, vice dean of Fudan University's College of Economics, echoed Wang Zhongmei's remarks.
"Monopolies should not be tackled with price reductions. A transparent and reasonable market-based pricing mechanism is what the industry really needs," Sun said.
In accordance with the requirement for lower charges and more service choices, Chinese telecommunications carriers will be asked to clean up irregular charges, simplify their charging system and improve charging information transparency, Zhang Feng, director of the telecom development department of the MIIT, said at a press conference Wednesday.
"The regulators should make clear their attitude toward these State-backed carriers. Whether to protect or punish them will be of great importance for the future development of the industry," said Wang.
According to a report released in November by the Advisory Committee for State Informatization, as of the end of 2010 Internet access charges in China were about three to four times higher than the average level in developed countries, while the average broadband speed was less than one-tenth of that in those countries.
Last year, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) initiated an anti-monopoly investigation into China Telecom and China Unicom, which were found to control two-thirds of the broadband access market in China.
Song Guixiang, a spokeswoman with China Telecom's PR department, told the Global Times Thursday that they had not heard anything from the NDRC yet, but it is widely believed that the possibility of severe punishment for these two companies is quite slim.
Li Qing, deputy director of the anti-monopoly bureau of the NDRC, said last week that both of the State-owned giants had submitted applications to the NDRC for the investigation to be suspended, and that they had vowed to make improvements and significantly slash their prices in the coming three to five years.
Sun Lijian, vice dean of Fudan University's College of Economics, echoed Wang Zhongmei's remarks.
"Monopolies should not be tackled with price reductions. A transparent and reasonable market-based pricing mechanism is what the industry really needs," Sun said.
In accordance with the requirement for lower charges and more service choices, Chinese telecommunications carriers will be asked to clean up irregular charges, simplify their charging system and improve charging information transparency, Zhang Feng, director of the telecom development department of the MIIT, said at a press conference Wednesday.
"The regulators should make clear their attitude toward these State-backed carriers. Whether to protect or punish them will be of great importance for the future development of the industry," said Wang.
According to a report released in November by the Advisory Committee for State Informatization, as of the end of 2010 Internet access charges in China were about three to four times higher than the average level in developed countries, while the average broadband speed was less than one-tenth of that in those countries.
Last year, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) initiated an anti-monopoly investigation into China Telecom and China Unicom, which were found to control two-thirds of the broadband access market in China.
Song Guixiang, a spokeswoman with China Telecom's PR department, told the Global Times Thursday that they had not heard anything from the NDRC yet, but it is widely believed that the possibility of severe punishment for these two companies is quite slim.
Li Qing, deputy director of the anti-monopoly bureau of the NDRC, said last week that both of the State-owned giants had submitted applications to the NDRC for the investigation to be suspended, and that they had vowed to make improvements and significantly slash their prices in the coming three to five years.
