China Unicom indignant over flat incoming call rate
22/4/2003 14:57
The introduction by the Shanghai branch of China Mobile of a flat
monthly rate for incoming calls has enraged its old foe - China Unicom, who
promised to watch and wait for three days before making any moves, eastday.com
reported today.
According to Shanghai Mobile's new policy, which took
effect yesterday, Gotone users--whose mobile numbers begin with 139 and who
receive a monthly bill for services--can receive incoming calls from other China
Mobile users for a flat 25 yuan (US$3) monthly fee for 625 minutes.
The
Shanghai Communications Administration held an emergency meeting yesterday with
Shanghai Mobile and Shanghai Unicom to discuss the matter, pushing Shanghai
Mobile to open the service only to a limited number of high-end subscribers,
said Zhao Le, general manager with the Shanghai Unicom.
If Shanghai
Mobile persists in offering the service to all of its Gotone users, Shanghai
Unicom will offer more beneficial policies after three days, Zhao said. "Our
services are sure to be more attractive than Shanghai Mobile's," he
said.
China Unicom subscribers in the city could receive incoming calls
from all other mobile communications operators such as China Mobile, China
Telecom and China Netcom by paying a flat incoming monthly call rate, Zhao
added.
"We have fewer subscribers than China Mobile, so the cost of the
move would be lower, but we don't want to spark a price war, which wouldn't help
either of us," he said.
Wendy Zhang/ Shanghai Daily news
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