CHINA'S telecommunications fee and consumer complaints declined in the first eight months of this year, indicating the sector was becoming more competitive and transparent, the industry regulator said.

From January to August, the telecommunications fee dropped 11.4 percent year-on-year. The regulator received about 19,000 consumer complaints in the period, down 1.6 percent from a year ago, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said yesterday.

In the period, China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom closed the connection to 3,000 unregistered websites. They also shut or blocked 32,600 websites with illegal or pornographic content, the ministry said.

Shutting or blocking those websites, which often charge users without notice, makes the market more transparent and contributed to the drop in the telecommunications fee, the ministry said.

Competition among the three carriers also contributed to lower prices for customers. Policy makers need to launch more measures to encourage competition, industry insiders said. China Mobile has about 70 percent of the country's total mobile user base.

Starting this month, China has allowed users in Tianjin and Hainan Province to keep their phone number when changing to another carrier.