MIIT: 'Keep It Simple' on 3G Video Call Pricing
MIIT, 6/22/09
China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) have jointly announced the approval of a request by China United Telecommunications Corporation (Unicom Group), the state-owned parent company of China Unicom (NYSE: CHU; 0762.HK; 600050.SH), to set its own pricing for 3G video calling service based on market conditions.
The MIIT and NDRC have also asked all operators to keep video call pricing options simple and easy for consumers to understand, calculating fees based on call duration, without any nested fees (i.e. without charging one fee for the voice portion of the call and another fee for the video portion of the call). Operators should base fees on a time-unit measure, either using the unit of measure for fee calculation on normal voice call services, or introducing smaller units of measure (e.g. instead of a certain fee per minute, a certain fee for every 10 seconds).
Regarding alternative charging options for video calling services, operators will be allowed to offer monthly packages or set a basic price for a certain amount of video calling time. Operators are permitted to decide on the unit of measure that they will offer consumers under such packages.
Keywords: 0762.HK 3G 600050.SH China Unicom China United Telecommunications Corporation CHU Ministry of Industry and Information Technology video calling NDRC wireless package tariffs regulation mobile data WVAS
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