Local Chinese Government Bureau Decrees No More Pay-Per-Minute Calls, Telecoms Say “Whaa?”

I REFUSE TO PAY FOR SECONDS I HAVEN'T USED!

Are you sick of paying for a full minute of phone time when your call lasted only a few seconds? Probably not. But if you are, the Harbin Industry and Commerce Bureau feels for you. In fact, the bureau has called for an end to “irrational” payment schemes that force customers to pay a per-minute rate even when their calls don’t last a minute. It holds that calls should be counted and billed by the second, not by the minute.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, telecom operators aren’t too excited about this, and the result is an ongoing scuffle between the Industry and Commerce Bureau and the Harbin Telecommunications Bureau. Telecoms hold that the Industry and Commerce Bureau has stepped beyond its authority and has no jurisdiction over telephone fee structures, because officially telecommunications are overseen by a national authority (a department of the State Council), not a local one like the Harbin Industry and Commerce Bureau.

However, a coalition of more than forty local lawyers has signed on in defense of the Industry and Commerce Bureau, calling on the government to bring an end to pay-per-minute requirements and offering free legal counsel to the Bureau if it comes down to the court system. People are also coming to the defense of the bureau, agreeing that charging people for more service than they have used violates consumers’ rights.

The Harbin Industry and Commerce Bureau’s rhetoric may be a bit overstated — counting calls by the minute ‘infringes on consumers’ right to financial safety?’ — but its heart is in the right place. Consumer rights will be an increasingly high-profile issue over the next month as World Consumer Rights Day — March 15 — draws ever closer. Traditionally, CCTV and other high profile media use the “holiday” to highlight issues relating to consumer rights.

[Beijing Evening News via Sina Tech, Image via Shutterstock]