Regulating Quality: New Telecom Measures

According to recent press reports, the Ministry of Information Industry (MII) has issued its first report assessing the quality of the telecommunications services offered by China's leading operators. The report places the dominant player, China Telecom, at the top of the complaints league table, with the operator receiving 71.4% of all customer complaints. In addition, recent Chinese newspaper articles reported that China Telecom received 0.05 complaints for every 10,000 customers, compared with China Unicom's 0.03 complaints per 10,000 customers and China Mobile's 0.024 complaints per 10,000 customers. The press reports revealed that complaints mainly concerned unreasonable charges, disputed telephone bills, and the poor quality of the service network.

Quality Service

To address such service quality issues and to improve telecommunications operator standards, the MII promulgated two sets of measures in January 2001. The Provisional Measures for the Supervision and Administration of the Quality of Telecommunications Services (Quality Measures) and the Provisional Measures for Handling Complaints of Telecommunications Users, both formulated in accordance with the provisions of the PRC Telecommunications Regulations (中华人民共和国电信条例). The Quality Measures apply to all telecommunications service operators in the People's Republic of China (PRC), and sets out the duties and responsibilities of the telecommunications authorities in carrying out supervision and administration of the telecommunications network. According to the Quality Measures, the mechanism to improve network quality will involve supervision from the MII and the provincial and municipal telecommunications authorities (telecommunications authorities), self-regulation by telecom operators and feedback from the public.