China Telecommunications Law Newsletter
Vol. 1 , No.1 - May 21, 2001
TOPICS THIS ISSUE:
- China Opens Door for Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises to Enter Telecom Industry
- Mandatory "Three Guarantees" for Mobile Phones to be Released
- Telephone Rates Adjustment by Beijing Telecom Challenged for Violation of Price Law
- Wuhan Telecom Fined for Pricing Infractions
China Opens Door for Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises to Enter Telecom Industry
"In fact, the promulgation of the Telecommunication Regulations has opened the door for those small- and medium-sized enterprises to get into the telecommunication industry." This statement was made by Zhang Chunjiang, the vice president of the Ministry of Information Industry of China at a conference of the 33rd World Telecommunications Day.
Mr. Zhang pointed out that eliminating the barriers for small- and medium-sized enterprises to participate in the telecom business would be helpful and crucial to establish more efficient competition in the telecom industry. According to his statement, the competition with respect to the infrastructure construction has reached a satisfactory level of intensity. Now it is time to encourage and promote the competition in respect of commercial developments and applications.
Mr. Zhang is very confident about the capability and creativeness inherent in small- and medium-sized enterprises in the fields of software development, information applications, e-commerce and online education. He said facilitating competition against telecom giants through helping small players could not only improve the overall level of telecom services but would also make it easier to administer the industry.
Being very optimistic about the expansion of the telecom industry, Mr. Zhang expects to achieve two results from such companies - to encourage investment and raise employment.
(Source: China News)
Mandatory "Three Guarantees" for Mobile Phones to be Released
A "Three Guarantees" policy - guarantee to repair, guarantee to return and guarantee to exchange - for the sale of mobile telephones has been drafted and will come into effect no later than August 2001. Selling mobile telephones without the "Three Guarantees" will be prohibited.
Han Huasheng, an official with the China Consumer Association, confirmed the upcoming release of the "Three Guarantees" regulation for the sale of mobile telephones. At present, mobile telephone sellers have a predominant market position. Therefore they tend to impose onto consumers conditions such as "No exchange, repair only" or "No return, exchange only", which are in violation of relevant provisions of the Product Quality Law and Consumer Rights Protection Law. Under the Product Quality Law and Consumer Rights Protection Law, consumers may choose to return a product and be refunded if the product remains defective after having been repaired twice. However, mobile telephone sellers have ignored this provision by claiming that mobile telephones do not fall under the scope of this provision. The proposed mandatory "Three Guarantees" will end use of this loophole.
The proposed "Three Guarantees" will set up a "Three Guarantees" period and the conditions of repair, exchange and return. "Three Guarantees" will further allow consumers to choose to repair, exchange or return mobile telephones at their own discretion within the "Three Guarantees" period, giving consumers better protection than that granted under the general Product Quality Law and Consumer Rights Protection Law.
The State Administration of Industry and Commerce and the State Product Examination Bureau will be in charge of the enforcement of the "Three Guarantees".
(Source: Beijing Youth Daily)
Telephone Rates Adjustment by Beijing Telecom Challenged for Violation of Price Law
After Beijing Telecom adjusted its telephone rates last month, the Beijing Consumer Association and the Consumer Complaint Center of the Beijing Administration of Industry and Commerce have received hundreds of complaints from telephone users challenging the legality of the adjustment.
"Although Beijing Telecom alleges that the telephone rates adjustment will benefit telephone users, the actual telephone bills have been getting bigger since the adjustment," said Jia Yingchi, the head of the Consumer Complaint Center of the Beijing Administration of Industry and Commerce. The current price for one hour's telephone call is almost seven RMB, while it used to be 3.6 RMB before the price adjustment. Furthermore, since the adjustment, telephone users cannot make 25 free calls anymore, a benefit they enjoyed in the past.
Telephone users allege that the procedure of passing and applying this adjustment was illegal. Under the Price Law, a public hearing must be held to decide the feasibility, necessity and reasonability of the proposed pricing actions. However, Beijing Telecom failed to conduct such a hearing for the disputed price adjustment.
The Ministry of Information Industry sets a flexible rate for local telephone calls ranging from 0.18 RMB to 0.22 RMB for the first three minutes. Telephone users are also complaining that Beijing Telecom adopts the highest end of this price range, while its operating costs are among the lowest nationwide.
(Source: News Morning)
Wuhan Telecom Fined for Pricing Infractions
Wuhan Telecom was fined RMB 6.6 million by the Price Bureau of Hubei Province for violating price regulations.
In March 1999, the Ministry of Information Industry adjusted the telephone rates and other fees and ordered the local telecommunication carriers to lower their telephone rates and fees accordingly. Wuhan Telecom, however, continued to charges its users at the past higher rates for one more month in reliance on its monopoly position in the telecommunications industry. More than a million telephone users were forced to pay those extra charges. This unlawful conduct was discovered in a joint examination carried out by the State Planning Committee and the Price Bureau of Hubei Province last year.
(Source: China Consumers Daily)
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