(Xinhua via NewsEdge) China Unicom plans to raise the charges on international IP long-distance calls between China and 23 countries and regions, including Belgium, New Zealand and Switzerland, on June 1, following similar charging adjustment by China Telecom and China Netcom.
Although the company said the upward adjustment, said to top 200%, is lawful, many consumers say they cannot accept the high charges.
According to related regulations of the Ministry of Information Industry, operators can set prices for their IP long-distance call services by themselves.
China Unicom attributed its charge rise to the imbalance between revenue and expense. It said the adjustment by China Telecom and China Netcom increased the traffic volume of its IP long-distance call service sharply, which made its revenue from this service lower than the settlement expenses.
© 2007 Xinhua News Agency
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