China issues new rules to help subscribers

BEIJING—China’s Ministry of Information Industry (MII) issued eight new rules on 2 August to better protect the interests of subscribers.
Customers will get an additional 10 days to pay their phone bills and will not be charged more for an auspicious telephone number as is the current case.
The practice of dominant operators dragging their feet to interconnect newcomers will have to stop. Network interconnection among different operators must be guaranteed, according to the ministry.
Operators must implement the new rules before June 2002.