Wu Jichuan, minister of MII, said the government would give telecom operators more freedom to decide charge standards by themselves.

"In the reform of telecom charges, more rights will be given to the companies. As for some mature telecom business, market and companies are the final price setters," Wu said.

Internet phone (IP) business is a good example, Wu said.

Starting from this year, MII will no longer decide the charge standard of IP business. Charges are now set by the individual telecom operators.

The resulting price war on January 1 led to consumers seeing cuts of up to 50 percent.

Consumers could benefit from such price battles in other fields too, Wu said.

The minister's remarks painted a rosy future for telecom customers.

"To hurry up the construction of a fair competitive market, MII will carry on its unparalleled management method and give more preferential policies to minor telecom operators," he said.

A relatively competitive telecom market has already emerged, Wu added.

China has seven telecom operators at present, but two of them, China Telecom and China Mobile, control the market in fixed-line and mobile telecom businesses.

However, the other five are to get a MII boost to nurture their rapid growth, Wu said.

"The charge standard of minor telecom operators could be lower than the major players," he said.

MII plans this year to launch a "conglomerate strategy" in which the ministry will help create a group of international big companies.

Wu said three or four domestic IT firms should realize total sales of 40 billion yuan (US$4.83 billion) and eight to 10 should reach sales of 20 billion (US$2.42 billion) this year.

The ministry this year is to recommend five companies to go public abroad. Wu said he hoped one or two of them could make IPOs (initial public offerings) before the end of the year.

The long-expected Telecom Law is under busy preparation and is expected to be launched soon. The law would upgrade telecom management to the legislation level and further ensure a competitive marketplace, according to the minister.

In the 10th Five-Year Plan (2001-05) period, Wu said China will become the biggest telecom market in both number of telecom users and network capacity.

By 2005, China's fixed-line telephone users are to number somewhere between 220 million and 260 million, which is one-fifth of the total amount of worldwide fixed-line telephone users.

China's mobile phone population is expected to account for one-fourth of the world's total with 260 million to 290 million.

China's IT industry should double its size every five years, and soon become a technology leader in the international market, Wu said in the ministry report.

(People's Daily 02/21/2001)