Charging Standard for WAP-enabled Mobile Phones Set in ChinaThe phrasal criteria of charging of Internet access through WAP-enabled mobile phones have been set after a seven-month free service offer, and charging day is to commence from October 21, 2000, officials from China Mobile announced October 10.According to the criteria which extends from October 21, 2000 to May 20, 2001, WAP-enabled mobile phone subscribers, whether roaming or not, will be charged at 0.15 yuan (1.8 US cents) per minute for the Internet access fees, while the normal telephone fees will not be charged; No extra fees are charged if the services last less than one minute. Besides, a cap of 30 yuan (US$3.62) will be charged if the total service time through WAP-enabled mobile phones per month lasts less than 500 minutes; Beyond 500 minutes, the extra service time will be charged at 0.15 yuan (1.8 US cents) as usual. The above two charging criteria exclude the information and trading services fees whose charge criteria are under drafting. The charging criteria, in addition, will be the same if a user gets connected to the Internet through a notepad PC by dialing 172 on a mobile phone; WAP subscribers with international roaming service in China, will be charged at 2.88 yuan (32.7 US cents) per minute for such service; and for subscribers who use WAP-enabled mobile phones only for Internet access services will not be charged 50 yuan (US$6.04) for the monthly rental fees. The staging of the criteria has settled the suspending issues of the service charging of WAP-enabled mobile phones, which has been delayed twice this year. In order to provide better and sufficient service for the subscribers, China Mobile has been cooperating with sina.com, sohu.com, yahoo.com, china.com and stockstar.com in the such contents as news, finance, sports and entertainment, e-mail and BBS. |
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