After delegating pricing rights on service fees of fixed-line phones to telecom operators, media reports said Monday that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) is likely to do the same for mobile phones, creating a possibility for price reduction via the calling party pays (CPP).

According to the reports, the (MIIT) has made a draft on the adjustment of management charges for mobile phone services in which the ministry plans to delegate the authority on pricing to operators and encourage them to lower fees.

Data released previously showed that from 2001 to 2006, telecommunication fees dropped 62 percent in total. Divided into years, in 2007, services fees for mobile phones declined 13 percent; in 2008 the number was 11 percent and last year it fell 13 percent.

Zhang Xinhong, vice director of the Department of Information Research of the State Information Center, said that although the fees have dropped a lot in recent years, compared with the international level, the charges for some products and services are still very high.

He Xia, assistant chief engineer of the China Academy of Telecommunication Research of MIIT, said that the high charges are mainly attributed to long-distance calls and roaming fees. He also said that fees for internet access are high.

By the end of June, the number of telephone users in the country had reached 1.1 billion. Of this number, 800 million are mobile phone users and 300 million fixed-line users, according to data released by the ministry.