China will implement a new mobile phone fee policy, which will charge users for outgoing calls, nationwide from March. China Mobile and China Unicom, the two mobile carriers with a total of 450 million users, will however launch free incoming call packages in some regions of the country.

The telcos said they will launch a monthly package based on a so-called one-way billing scheme in Beijing and Guangdong Province. The new package will dramatically slash mobile call charges for users, the firms said.

The state-owned carriers now charge for both incoming and outgoing calls but their Shanghai units have already started similar one-way calling packages. For example, Shanghai Mobile's users can choose a monthly six-yuan (77 US cents) package in which incoming calls are free.

"We have already launched the one-way service among our CDMA (code division multiple access) since 2002 and we may expand the package to all users, depending on market conditions," Shanghai Unicom said.

The Ministry of Information Industry also said recently it has encouraged telcos to provide the new one-way charge policy in some regions, the first official positive response of the policy from regulators.

The government previously didn't approve the one-way charge packages to protect the assets of the state-owned carriers.

China is expected to issue 3G licenses this year and the high-speed technology allows users to enjoy video conferences and downloads of video clips onto their mobile phones.

The fixed-line phone operators, China Telecom and China Netcom, are also likely to get 3G mobile licenses, which will pit the big four Chinese telecommunications giants together in the same race.

Source:未知