An official from the Ministry of Information Industry on November 24 reaffirmed that telecom companies are not allowed to increase or decrease the prices on mobile telecom services without authorization.

Zhang Chunjiang, director of the telecommunication management administration under the ministry, announced at a tele-conference in Beijing on November 24 that these prices are set by the state and should not be changed by the service suppliers.

The two companies engaged in the mobile telecom business, China Unicom and China Mobile, are both state-owned enterprises, which take the responsibility of increasing state assets, said Zhang, adding that the unauthorized rate changes will not only harm each of the businesses individually but also cause losses of state assets.

He noted that recently, some local branches of the two companies decreased the mobile telecom prices by providing free usage time and waived network access fees to capture more market share.

Zhang called on the two mobile telecom operators to strictly abide by the fees set by the state.

According to Zhang, branches of the two companies should report to the headquarters before they decide to offer new business incentives, and when considering price readjustment, the headquarters should also report to the Ministry of Information Industry (MII) for approval.

The two companies are also required to publicize a hotline number for consumer complaints or for those within the industry to report illegal activities.

To promote the telecommunication price reform, the State Development Planning Commission and MII will jointly carry out a review on the telecommunication fee charges across the country from December 1 this year to February 12,2000. (Xinhua)