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Charges on Telephone Installation and Initiation of Mobile Phones Called off
China announced Saturday that the fees levied on the installation of telephones and the initiation of mobile phones against millions of Chinese subscribers for the past two decades will end as of July 1.
In a circular released by the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Information Industry, all other government levies related to the installation and use of telephones will also be canceled at the same time.
"Such policy changes will spare telephone and mobile phone subscribers about 20 billion yuan of economic burden each year," an official with the Ministry of Finance said.
He claimed that phone subscription charges introduced in the early 1980s was a special government policy to boost the development of China's telecom industry.
"Now that China's telecom industry is able to meet the social demand, and in order to alleviate the economic burden on the society, the government decided to cancel such charges," he added.
With such lifts of charges, the demand for telecom service in the country is expected to increase further, the official said.
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