BEIJING-A spokesman for China Mobile said the company would further delay the one-way billing system beyond the proposed implementation period of early 2002, citing the “need for further research and complicated technical adjustments.”
The new billing system could sharply reduce revenues, triggering lower stock prices for China’s mobile operators.
The spokesman also admitted the company feels little market pressure to adopt one-way charging. But it is up to the Ministry of Information Industry (MII) to give the new billing plan the green light, after which mobile operators would need to comply. Recently, several members of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, an advisory body to the government, asked the ministry to approve the new billing.
They view two-way billing as an additional burden for mobile-phone subscribers and as an impediment to the further development of the industry.
China had 86.25 million mobile-phone subscribers at the end of last year. Both the caller and the receiver now both pay part of the call fee.
MII Minister Wu Jichuan confirmed he would not issue a third mobile license in 2001.
