Talk of mobile phone fee cuts ( 2003-11-13 10:24) (China Daily)
Mobile phone charges are expected to be slashed dramatically in the lead up
to January's Chinese Spring Festival, according to a Beijing Mobile
Telecommunications Co Ltd official.
Fan Yunjun, Marketing Department general manager of Beijing Mobile, said if
introduced, the price cuts would be "unprecedented."
"The cuts... would mainly focus on voice businesses including calling-in and
dialing-out," he said yesterday during the ongoing PT/Wireless and Networks Comm
China 2003 in Beijing.
However, there is a possibility that prices will not be reduced, he added.
Analysts believe the strategy is being developed by the company to fight its
rival, China Unicom and its recent CDMA network price reductions.
When asked about its third-generation (3G) wireless telecommunications, Fan
said: "We need to nurture a pool of 3G customers before the real roll out of
3G's commercialization."
According to Fan, the company is busy testing its 3G-based technologies,
networks and services.
"We expect that the 3G licences will likely be issued later next year," he
said.
His view is echoed by Peter Weiss, executive vice-president of Siemens Ltd
(China).
As the only 3G solution provider backing both Wideband CDMA and Time Division
Synchronous CDMA standards, Weiss said the two 3G standards were "both mature in
status."
Also yesterday at the expo, Siemens demonstrated a new 3G mobile terminal,
the U15.
