By Li Xing (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-01-24 07:26

I was surprised to get a phone call from my cousin in Hubei province at 9 pm on Sunday.

In fact, it was the first time she had ever called me to thank me for taking care of her daughter. The girl, a second-year student at a university in Tianjin, is taking an intensive English course in Beijing.

My cousin told me she had initially hoped to reach me and another cousin of ours via our home phones, but neither of us had picked up.

"Why didn't you call her (our cousin's) cell," I asked.

"Oh, it is too expensive," she said straight away.

Until that moment, I had not been aware of the effect expensive roaming fees for cell phone subscribers has had on many low-income families like hers, as well as farmers and students who work or study away from their homes.

Prior to this discovery I was all for scrapping or at least reducing roaming fees simply because I did not want to pay them.

My cousin has enlightened me about the possible financial burden roaming fees may place upon people like her.

However, Tuesday's hearing on the fees, which was sponsored by the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Information Industry, made it clear that it is not a simple matter to go ahead with cuts, nor is the issue just about money.

So much is at stake, as in many of the key issues facing China right now.

Yes, the roaming fees are high. A few of my younger colleagues in the office have to spend hundreds to keep in touch with their parents and other loved ones.

A professor at Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications told netizens over the Internet that he spent 100 yuan (about $14) within about seven hours of arriving in Guangzhou after making a few calls and taking others to/from Beijing.

Farmers who work in urban centers away from their homes have the right to demand reasonable charges so they can keep in touch the children and elderly parents they left behind in rural villages.

But complications arise when costs for mobile phone users are dramatically lowered. The people who have to bear the brunt of the cuts are those who provide regular telephone services.

Gone are the days when the people who managed the landline phones were like kings.

I remember having to pay 5,000 yuan (nearly $1,000 at the then exchange rate) to have a landline installed 19 years ago.

It took 24 years for the number of landline subscribers to grow from the 2.14 million at the time to 312.4 million in 2004. It took about nine years for the number of mobile phone subscribers to grow from 3.63 million to 334.8 million.

Last year, the number of landline subscribers fell by 6.8 million, after mobile phone providers started to charge callers only.

It is no wonder that the government has to coordinate and balance the growth of different sectors of the telecommunication industries. Above all, the government should establish a level playing field for all providers to develop and grow, without limiting one sector while allowing another to amass huge profits.

Meanwhile, I believe the media should present the complexities of the matter objectively, without simply talking about money.

E-mail: lixing@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 01/24/2008 page8)