"The launch of the 'zero tolerance measures' will be one of the main ways with which we can solve the interconnection problem," said Jiang Yaoping, director-general of the Department of Policy and Regulation under MII.

He made the remarks at the second China Telecom Development Policy Seminar 2003 organized by the Communications World magazine in Beijing, which ends today.

Jiang pointed out the "zero tolerance measures" include giving disciplinary sanctions or even banning those responsible from working in the telecom industry.

Criminal charges could even be slapped on those who cause serious accidents by disrupting the network.

Interconnection failure was a serious problem among telecom carriers last year with calls blocked between rival networks.

In addition to severe punishments being meted out, MII is also working on a new interconnection fee scheme to build a fair system.

Jiang said an expert group headed by Professor Jerry Hausman from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Zhang Xinzhu from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences have been working on an interconnection fee model.

Li Ruliang, director of the Regulation Department of China Telecom Corp, complained that mobile operators usually take the lion's share of benefits of interconnection fees - 80 per cent for a local call and 70 percent for a long distance call.

The official with China's biggest fixed-line phone operator said dominant operators in other countries gain 15 percent to 30 percent revenues from interconnection fees, but the proportion for his company was only 3.6 percent last year.

At the same time, MII will set up a nationwide monitoring network on interconnection quality, according to Jiang Yaoping.

The ministry is going to build an internal evaluation and report mechanism to supervise telecom carriers.

Jiang said provincial telecom administrators will hold joint conferences each month to evaluate service quality.

He revealed MII had begun consultation on a draft of the establishment of a universal service fund, which will give aid to telecom operators which provide services to remote and underdeveloped regions and will continue to promote the early application of the plan.

(China Daily March 21, 2003)