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  • China Aims to Cut Internet Charges in 1999
  • February 8, 1999 (BEIJING) -- The Chinese government is considering ways to cut Internet charges in response to the growing number of complaints from the country's Internet users.
    A source at the Beijing Telegraph Bureau said that Internet charges will be reduced to some extent, and the cut will be more dramatic for institutional users. The bureau accounts for the biggest number of Internet users in the country.

    Chang Xiaobin, deputy director of the Telecommunications Bureau under the Ministry of Information Industry (MII), also confirmed that charges will be lowered in 1999. But he noted there is no specific timetable for the price cut.

    The people of Beijing on average spend 34.8 percent of their monthly salaries just to get onto the Internet, a sharp comparison to the one percent in the United States.

    The high charges have been blamed as one of the factors that hinder the development of the information industry, while many Internet providers feel that it is difficult to make profit from a small market.

    In fact, a number of local providers have voluntarily introduced flexible price policies geared toward certain time frames and rewards for frequent users.

    (Xinhua News Agency)



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    Updated: Fri Feb 5 18:09:14 1999 PDT