File photo shows customers at a China Mobile service center in north China's Tianjin city. [Photo: Xinhua]

Telecom companies in China have earned more than ten billion yuan per year with roaming fees, although the technical cost for providing such services have drastically reduced over time due to advancements in technology.

According to the mobile service charge list published by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, domestic roaming fees charge up to 0.6 yuan per minute.

But some industry insiders say that advanced technology used in 3G or 4G networks, have reduced the cost associated with providing roaming services to almost zero. However, the fee structure has not been revised to reflect this change and customers continue to pay at the same roaming rates that were applicable when 2G network services were in use, when the technical cost for providing roaming services were much higher.

Experts also point out that extra costs were charged in the past when telecom companies operated independent subsidiaries at a regional or provincial level. Then costumers making phone calls across different management zones will be charged an extra fee. But the three major mobile operators, namely China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom, have now integrated their subsidiaries into a nation-wide operation and therefore, such extra costs have disappeared.

Although there is a national standard for levying domestic roaming fees, there are no similar standards to regulate international roaming fees. Therefore, different telecom operators in China often charge different international roaming fees for the same destination.

With an increasing number of Chinese tourists travelling abroad every year, there has been a growing demand to reduce international roaming fees in recent years.

Telecommunication experts say that as the cost of providing roaming services have reduced, the charge for domestic roaming service should be cancelled. They are also urging the industry to reduce international roaming fees as the current fee structure is obsolete.