China Telecom to offer one-way charging services

Sep. 25, 2009 (China Knowledge) - China Telecom Corp Ltd<0728><CHA>, one of the country's top three telecom carriers, announced on Wednesday that it will start offering free incoming call services in October, becoming the first Chinese carrier to offer one-way charge system for all customers, state media reported.

The Chinese telecom carrier said that users who subscribe to BiaNavigator, My e-Home and e-surfing packages, will not have to pay for the incoming calls, even when they travel to another city in mainland China from Oct. 1.

To boost the business, China Telecom plans to provide more than 70 models of its 3G e-surfing mobile phones priced at around RMB 1,000 in the future, said the company.

China Mobile Ltd<0941><CHL> and China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd<600050><0762><CHU>, the other two major mobile operators in the country, said they will also offer one-way charging services in the future but did not specify when.

China Telecom added 2.08 million CDMA subscribers in August, bringing the total to 43.81 million. Its first-half net profit dropped 29% from RMB 12.63 billion last year to RMB 9 billion this year, dragged down by spending on mobile phone promotion and 3G network construction.