On Monday, Xia Ji'en, deputy to the National People's Congress, proposed charging mobile users by the second, rather than counting by minutes, 21st century.com reports.

Experts in telecommunications-related fields asserted that, the technological transformation costs for seconds billing is enormous, and it's not in line with international practices.

As Xia learned from telecom equipment manufacturers, technically speaking, mobile phone charges by the second are not impossible. Long-distance calls, for instance, charge by every 6 seconds. This has led Xia to state that the technical obstacles are just an excuse.

According to Xia, less than one minute phone calls rounded up to a minute is a clearly one-sided agreement.

He also suggested that compromises can also be made to protect the consumers' interests. For instance, the telecom giants could simply round the call off to the nearest second, not charge for calls less than 30 seconds or charge customers who talk for more than 30 seconds for the full minute.