China's mobile phone users will have to register using their real names starting next year, according to the Ministry of Information Industry (MII). The new rule will apply not only to new users, but also about 200 million pre-paid cell phone users, Wang Lijian, dean of MII's News Department, said on Sunday. Currently, half of the country's 400 million cell phone users pre-pay for their mobile service provided by China Mobile and China Unicom. And most are not required to register before buying a new phone number. Ministry officials said the real-name registration system would help curb the surging number of mobile phone crimes. Experts say that implementing the real-name system may hit China's mobile telecom operators hard in short term because of fewer new users and increased operational costs. "The operators will suffer a temporary decrease in the number of consumers and short message services (SMS) as people may not like having to provide their ID cards for a phone number," Xu Junqi, vice-dean with the Policy-Making Institute of the Telecommunications Research Centre under MII, said yesterday. "The operators also have to invest a lot in updating their technical facilities and service network." Telecom value-added service providers are also expected to see their profits drop after the new system takes effect. MII experts participating in drafting the new system said that the system has included provisions to protect the privacy of personal information. Public reaction last December was almost evenly split. An online survey conducted by Sohu.com found that 44.9 per cent of 1,911 respondents favoured using ID to set up mobile phone accounts, and 42.1 per cent opposed it. A survey conducted by China Central Television in September 2005 showed that 88 percent of the 12,522 respondents said they had received illegal text messages such as fake notices of winning prizes, pornographic information and ads for fake diplomas and illegal firearms. (China Daily)

據信息產業部消息，我國將從明年起啟動手機實名制。 信息產業部新聞處處長王立健上周日說，屆時，新手機用戶和現有的約2億名非實名預付費用戶都需要進行實名登記。 目前，我國手機用戶達4億之多，其中有一半是中國移動和中國聯通的預付費業務用戶。大多數預付費用戶在二次購號時也不需要進行實名登記。 信息產業部的有關官員說，手機實名制將有助于控制目前不斷增長的手機犯罪案件。 專家說，實行手機實名制可能會對我國的通信運營商帶來暫時性的沖擊，新用戶減少和運營成本的增加是其中兩個主要因素。 信息產業部下屬的通信決策研究院副主任徐俊其（音譯）昨天說："實行手機實名制后，人們可能不太情愿用身份證注冊手機號，所以通信運營商會暫時面臨用戶減少和短信用戶減少的問題。" "此外，運營商還需要加大投資對目前的技術設備和服務網絡進行升級改造。" 手機實名制實施后，電信增值服務運營商也將面臨利潤減少的壓力。 信息產業部參與起草新制度細則的專家們說，手機實名制中還包括保護個人隱私的規定。 去年12月有消息透露我國將實行手機實名制，當時人們對此褒貶不一。搜狐網站所做的一個在線調查發現，在1911個調查對象中，有44.9％的人認為用身份證登記手機號好處多，而42.1％的調查對象對此表示反對。 中央電視臺在2005年9月做了一項調查，在12522個調查對象中，有88%的人說他們收到過虛假中獎信息、黃色短信、假學歷及非法武器廣告等非法短信。 (英語點津姍姍編輯)