China’s Telecom watch dog and the National Development and Reform Commission have eliminated price controls allowing telecom providers to charge whatever the market will bear.

As of Saturday, regulators are allowing mobile phone operators to set their own prices for phones, data and other mobile services. China’s telecom industry is dominated by three state-controlled companies: China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom, which in recent years have been criticised for their virtual powers of monopoly.