BEIJING-China Mobile (HK), the Hong Kong listed subsidiary of the China Mobile, based in Beijing, has received approval from the Ministry of Information Industry (MII) for its new tariff scheme.
Currently, users pay a monthly fee of 50 yuan (US$6) plus 0.4 yuan (US$0.05) per minute. Later this month, subscribers will be able to opt for a package of 170 minutes talk time at 98 yuan (US$11.85) up to 788 yuan (US$95.30) for 2,588 minutes a month. There will be altogether six different payment formulas.
The China Daily reported the new tariff scheme may lower the operator’s revenue per customer by about 8 percent to 27 percent, but on the other hand, the lower rates will attract more users. A drop in profits of 7 percent to 8 percent is expected.
China Mobile’s average revenue per user (ARPU) is higher than China Unicom’s, but is declining rapidly.
The new tariff scheme should slow the decline. Nomura International estimates China Mobile’s monthly ARPU in 2000 at 224 yuan (US$27.09) compared with Unicom’s 123 yuan (US$14.88) and forecasts a decline of the former to 165 yuan (US$19.96) in 2001.
Competitor China Unicom also plans to unveil a new tariff scheme in the coming weeks to keep its prices 10 percent to 20 percent below those of China Mobile.
