With excessive profit margins, mobile phone call rates will definitely decline this year, said Kan Kaili, a famous telecom expert, the Beijing Morning Post reported Thursday.

"For any listed mobile communication operators, it is good for them to gain 8 percent of pure profit rate, and well off to generate 18 percent in pure profits, while the China Mobile reported 28 percent in the rate last year," Kan said.

The existing telecom charging management cannot meet the market demand, and the Ministry of Information Industry is currently adjusting the ways of monitoring domestic telecom charges, according to officials with the ministry.

"Allowing mobile communication operators to fluctuate the handset call rates within a limited range can lead to an orderly market competition," Kan suggested.

However, lowering the rates doesn't mean offering the one-way charging system, he stressed, adding that consumers' longing for one-way charging system was due to their dissatisfaction with the existing handset call rates.

The one-way handset call rate charging system is adopted in some European regions, with different phone numbers adopted in different mobile networks, and fixed-line phone users should pay extra fees when calling handset users. In US and Canada, two-way charging system is still adopted. 
 
(Shanghai Daily February 6, 2004)