Since the country opened five value-added telecommunications services such as telephone information services to the public in 1993 , after more than ten years of development, the value-added telecommunications business market has maintained sustained and rapid development, and the market scale has continued to expand. By the end of 2005 , the total number of value-added telecommunications business licenses issued nationwide reached more than 16,000 , and the proportion of business income has continued to increase. The proportion of data ( value-added ) business income of the four major operators has exceeded 10 % , which is inseparable from the contribution of value-added telecommunications business operators. Value-added telecommunications services have become a new growth point in the telecommunications industry. At the same time, with the broadbandization of fixed and mobile networks, basic operators have transformed into information service providers, and value-added telecommunications services have become the focus of telecommunications industry development. However, at present, some value-added telecommunications business operators take advantage of policy blind spots in the course of operation and deceive consumers through various means, which not only damages the interests of consumers, but also is not conducive to the overall development of the value-added telecommunications business market. The supervision of value-added operators has gradually become the focus of supervision.
Value-added telecom services market faces mixed results
At present, domestic3GThe issuance of licenses is getting closer, and major operators are planning to transform from network service providers to information service providers. This has created a favorable environment for the development of information service businesses and provided opportunities for value-added business operators that provide information services.
Information service business is the focus of value-added telecommunications business
Among the various value-added telecommunications services currently in operation, information service business occupies an absolute dominant position. In terms of the number of entities, among the more than 16,000 value-added telecommunications business licenses in the country, the proportion of information service business operating licenses has reached more than 70% . Among all the value-added telecommunications business revenues, information service business revenues account for about 60% , and have maintained a high growth momentum. Information service business can be said to be the focus of the development of value-added telecommunications business ( the value-added telecommunications business mentioned below, unless otherwise specified, mainly refers to information service business ) .
The entry threshold of value-added telecommunication services is low
The "Measures for the Administration of Telecommunications Business Licenses" stipulates that the registered capital of operators operating value-added telecommunications services within provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government is RMB 1 million; those engaging in value-added telecommunications services across the country and across provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government must have a registered capital of RMB 10 million. The same standards apply to foreign-funded enterprises entering the value-added telecommunications business sector. From the perspective of the operation of value-added telecommunications services, this standard of registered capital can be used to carry out value-added telecommunications services and provide corresponding services. However, the "Measures for the Administration" only require the provision of a feasibility study report, relevant technical solutions, and necessary venues and facilities, and do not specify specific technical standards. At the same time, enterprises operating value-added telecommunications services can also operate other businesses, which means that the registered capital of RMB 1 million cannot be used entirely for the operation of value-added telecommunications services, resulting in low service quality and slow technology updates, leading to a mixed bag of value-added telecommunications services and uneven quality in the entire value-added telecommunications business market.
Basic operators block the access of value-added telecom operators, which is not conducive to the healthy development of the market.
To develop value-added telecommunications services, value-added telecommunications operators must first negotiate access with basic operators. Whether they can finally access and obtain relevant information after access is entirely up to the basic operators. Basic operators can support or suppress the development of a value-added telecommunications operator according to their own needs. That is, the life and death of value-added telecommunications operators is in the hands of basic telecommunications operators. In addition, in terms of specific business operations, all services of value-added telecommunications operators must first be approved by basic operators before they can be launched. Only basic operators have the most comprehensive and real consumption data of various data on users using each business service; while value-added telecommunications operators can only obtain simple quantitative data and cannot analyze consumers' consumption behavior at all, thus unable to quickly and flexibly plan their own business, optimize business combinations, meet the needs of different consumers, and achieve differentiated operations. Since each value-added telecommunications operator cannot analyze specific consumption data, it can only rely on market surveys or purchase relevant consulting reports to decide its own products, which has caused serious homogeneity of the business of enterprises carrying out the same business.
Value-added telecommunications companies are small in scale and lack innovation
Although China's value-added telecommunications enterprises have been developing for more than ten years, they are still generally small in scale, scattered in operation, and weak in strength. Among the more than 16,000 value-added telecommunications business licenses, less than 1,000 have registered capital of more than 10 million yuan . The units that have obtained business licenses are mainly enterprises with registered capital of 1 million yuan and local business.
The vitality of an enterprise lies in innovation, but innovation requires sufficient financial support. Since value-added telecommunications service enterprises have limited funds and basic operators cannot settle relevant fees with value-added operators in a timely manner, the subsequent funds of value-added telecommunications enterprises cannot keep up, and their product design and innovation capabilities decline.
The rights of value-added telecom operators as consumers are not protected
Value-added telecommunications operators actually play two different roles. First, a value-added telecommunications enterprise is an independent legal entity established in accordance with the Company Law, providing a variety of value-added services to the majority of telecommunications users. At this time, the enterprise must assume the obligation to provide high-quality services and after-sales services. Secondly, as an access user and customer of the basic operator, the value-added telecommunications enterprise should have its legitimate rights and interests as a user properly protected. However, the current situation is that value-added telecommunications enterprises only fulfill their corporate obligations and do not enjoy the rights and interests protection that they should have as users.
Information service charges become the focus of complaints
In the statistics of basic complaints from telecom users in the fourth quarter of last year, the number of complaints about billing and charges increased by 33.8 % . Complaints about information service charges were particularly prominent, and user complaints showed a trend of shifting from basic telecom services to value-added telecom services. In the fourth quarter of last year, there were 1,205 complaints from telecom users about information service issues , an increase of 43.5% over the third quarter. This accounted for 42.8% of the total number of user complaints this quarter . The main manifestations were bad information, vague tariff descriptions, SMS traps ( automatically converted to paid service after free trial ) , etc. Currently, the consumers who complained are only a small part of the many consumers, so random charges and fraud are still the cancer in the current value-added telecom service market.
There are deficiencies in the supervision of value-added telecommunications services
Although my country's value-added telecommunications services have maintained rapid growth, there are still many problems in the value-added telecommunications market, judging from user complaints and social reactions. The main reason for these problems is inadequate supervision. At present, my country's management of value-added telecommunications operators is mainly through the basic operators to restrict their operations during the process, resulting in the operation of value-added telecommunications operators outside the scope of supervision, which has created conditions for many irregular behaviors in the value-added telecommunications market. In response to the irregular behaviors in the current value-added telecommunications business, the industry authorities have the following main problems in supervision.
The regulatory authorities stand too high and retreat too far
Minister Wang Xudong asked the regulatory authorities to take a step back and stand one step higher in the process of supervision, in order to give full play to the industry supervision role of the Ministry of Information Industry, give telecom operators greater operating autonomy, and create a fair, just, effective and orderly market environment. In the basic telecom business market, the regulatory authorities are basically working in this direction, but in the value-added telecom business market, the basic operators are still using their access to constrain the value-added telecom operators. Since the basic operators themselves are also operating value-added telecom businesses, creating a fair, just, effective and orderly competition environment can only be empty talk.
Market access and in-process supervision are out of touch
The market management of value-added telecommunication services mainly includes two aspects: market access and on-site supervision. Although market access is the main task of the entire value-added telecommunication market management, and a lot of manpower and material resources have been invested, it has not been effectively combined with on-site supervision of the market, resulting in a relatively strict market access, but there are still a large number of unlicensed operators in the market ( mainly operators engaged in virtual hosting business ) , disrupting the normal market order. Unlicensed operators cannot guarantee effective after-sales service when providing services to users due to insufficient funds, and some unlicensed operators also take advantage of users' lack of understanding of value-added telecommunication services to pass off inferior products as good ones, thus damaging the interests of consumers.
Regulatory informatization is lagging behind
As a regulatory department in the high-tech industry, we should use various technical means to effectively regulate value-added telecommunications operators. At present, the Ministry of Information Industry does not have a unified regulatory system in the telecommunications industry, and its informatization construction is backward. There is no unified market supervision system between the Communications Administration Bureaus of various regions and between the Ministry of Information Industry and the Communications Administration Bureau. This allows some illegal operators to continue to operate in another region after being punished in one region, thereby disrupting the market order and increasing unnecessary regulatory costs.
Lack of effective exit mechanism
Any industry must have a standardized entry and exit mechanism to maintain healthy development. Since the value-added telecommunications business is subject to a business license system, as long as the business unit applies for a license in accordance with legal procedures, the license cannot be revoked by the issuing authority regardless of whether it is operating ( except for illegal operations ) , resulting in some companies obtaining licenses for more than two years but still not carrying out related business, resulting in a waste of resources.
Lack of regulatory approval for new business applications
From the development of the value-added telecommunications service market, we can see that many new technologies and new services are being used to take advantage of regulatory loopholes. Why does this happen? On the one hand, it is because regulation lags behind the development of technology, but more importantly, the regulatory authorities have never used the relevant services, so it is basically impossible to formulate effective and feasible regulatory regulations for these services. In the regulation of value-added services, the regulatory authorities are busy studying countermeasures and plugging loopholes only after problems arise, which makes the regulatory authorities often led by others and passive everywhere.
Supervision of value-added telecommunications industry needs to be strengthened
Regarding the regulation of value-added telecommunications services, we should first clarify whether the regulatory authorities should strengthen or relax regulation. Now many scholars and people in the telecommunications industry generally believe, based on the trend of telecommunications regulation abroad, that since the Chinese telecommunications market has been liberalized and competition is encouraged, regulation should be relaxed. In fact, this is also a misunderstanding. First of all, we can see from the development history of foreign regulation that each country's regulation starts with strengthening regulation. After formulating relatively complete laws and regulations, the vast majority of operating units are able to comply with them consciously and are maintaining this competitive environment. In the case of an imperfect market, it is necessary to use the strong supervision of the regulatory authorities to regulate the business behavior of operators; with the improvement of laws and regulations, the standardization of operators' behavior, and the weakening of regulatory intensity.
Government supervision and business operation are a pair of contradictions. The relationship between them is that of management and being managed. Before there is a perfect system, due to the lack of sufficient experience of the regulatory agencies and the lack of clear scope of their functions, the phenomenon of "control leads to death, and letting go leads to chaos" often occurs. Voice stations are a good example. Therefore, regulatory authorities should nip small problems in the bud in supervision. They should not ignore research and solve small problems when they occur, and directly control them to death when they become serious, resulting in the inability of the business to develop normally.
along with3GAs the date for issuing licenses approaches, telecom operators are preparing for the3Gbusiness preparation, value-added telecommunications services will be3GThe main growth point of the business. Telecom regulatory authorities must do a good job in supervising value-added telecom operators, safeguard their legitimate rights and interests, and avoid the situation of "death if controlled, chaos if released". Drawing on foreign regulatory experience and combining the current status of the value-added telecom market, regulatory agencies should do a good job in the following aspects.
Promote the formulation and implementation of relevant laws and regulations to create a fair, just, effective and orderly market environment
At present, the laws and regulations related to value-added telecommunications services promulgated in my country include: "Telecommunications Regulations of the People's Republic of China", "Internet Information Service Management Measures", "Telecommunications Service Specifications", "Telecommunications Business License Management Measures", "Foreign Investment Telecommunications Enterprise Management Regulations", etc. The "Telecommunications Law" is also being formulated. Therefore, my country's telecommunications laws and regulations are relatively complete, but they still need to be continuously improved according to the development of technology.
In order to manage the industry scientifically and effectively, in addition to formulating perfect laws and regulations, the key lies in the implementation of laws and regulations. If the formulated laws and regulations are not feasible in implementation, they should be revised as soon as possible; if the laws and regulations are feasible, but no one seriously implements them, then both situations will lead to a reduction in the prestige of the regulatory authorities. The authority of the government is established through credibility, not by using the power in its hands to force others to establish it. Therefore, only by conscientiously implementing the corresponding laws and regulations and reducing human factors can we truly create a fair, just, effective and orderly market environment.
Truly "stand one step higher, take one step back"
The value-added telecommunications market can be said to be a telecommunications business market that has been neglected by regulatory authorities, because at present, my country's supervision of value-added telecommunications business operators is mainly through access providers to constrain value-added business operators, which are managed by basic telecommunications enterprises, and the penalties for their illegal business operations are also implemented by basic operators. This allows basic operators to control value-added telecommunications operators according to their own interests.November 5 , 2005China Telecom suddenly suspended new business cooperation applications this year and imposed fines ranging from 200,000 yuan to 3 million yuan on 19 SPs with national PHS SMS business qualifications , including Sohu and China Alumni Directory . Their violations included forcing users to customize SMS.
Illegal behaviors such as SMS traps and forcing users to customize SMS have long existed in mobile operators. Currently, this situation has been effectively controlled through the launch of the MISC ( Mobile Information Service Center ) system. Therefore, as a fixed-line operator that later provides Xiaolingtong value-added services, it should prevent this phenomenon and should not make the same mistake; at the same time, as an administrative penalty, according to the Administrative Penalty Law, as an enterprise, it has no right to punish users. Therefore, it has retreated too far in the supervision of value-added telecommunications services, and because of the different standards of various operators, the punished units can still conduct business with other operators; at the same time, the basic operators have the power of supervision, making them play the role of athletes and referees at the same time, which hinders the establishment of a fair and just market environment. Therefore, the telecommunications regulatory department should stand at the height of the industry supervisor, carry out macro-planning and management of value-added telecommunications services, formulate corresponding industry development plans, improve the means of value-added telecommunications supervision, directly include value-added telecommunications service operators in the supervision process, and take back the supervision power of basic operators; at the same time, the regulatory agency should also give value-added operators greater freedom of competition in accordance with market laws, give full play to the market competition mechanism, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of value-added operators as users.
Strengthen on-the-spot supervision and effectively combine it with market access
At present, due to various reasons, telecom supervision has focused on access and neglected on in-process supervision, which has led to a disconnection between the supervision processes. In fact, the establishment of a fair and just market environment is gradually established by restricting the behavior of operators who violate regulations during the operation process. If we only focus on access without keeping up with in-process supervision, the supervision will be in name only and fail to achieve the purpose of maintaining the market environment.
First, further simplify the admission process and gradually shift the focus to "weakening admission and strengthening supervision".
Secondly, establish unified regulatory standards, set application qualifications with telecommunications industry characteristics for units applying to carry out value-added telecommunications services, or set different technical standards for different services.
Third, strengthen the sharing of regulatory information, and for violators, they should be banned from conducting value-added services nationwide.
Fourth, establish a credit system.
Fifth, strengthen the construction of the law enforcement team and do a good job of coordination with relevant departments.
Make full use of the information advantages of the telecommunications industry
The communications industry is a high-tech industry. As a regulatory department, only by making full use of the advantages of informatization can we manage the industry more effectively. If regulatory means and technology lag behind the development of enterprises, then the regulatory department can only become a captive of enterprises and fail to safeguard the interests of consumers. Therefore, we must continue to strengthen informatization construction.
First, strengthen the construction of office automation within the regulatory departments, improve work efficiency, and achieve convenience and benefits for the people.
Secondly, strengthening information sharing among regulatory departments and enhancing communication between relevant departments at the same level can not only reduce regulatory costs ( information collection ) , but also improve law enforcement intensity and efficiency.
Third, strengthen information sharing between superior and subordinate communications regulatory departments to lay the foundation for establishing a unified national credit system.
Fourth, further enhance information exchange with all sectors of society and improve the transparency of law enforcement.
Strengthening market exit management
As long as the enterprise applies and meets the conditions, the regulatory authorities must issue a license. After an enterprise obtains a business license, its license can only be revoked if the enterprise violates regulations or the enterprise itself requests to revoke it. Otherwise, even if the enterprise has not conducted business for several years, the regulatory authorities cannot revoke its license, which will increase regulatory costs and waste resources. Therefore, the regulatory authorities should formulate exit standards to prevent enterprises from using business licenses to transfer funds or engage in other activities. The regulatory authorities mainly rectify enterprises that do not conduct business or have been operating at a loss for many years, which can not only promote other enterprises to improve efficiency, but also save unnecessary costs in supervision.
Give full play to the role of the communications industry association and the Internet Association
At present, the communication industry and Internet associations have not played their due role at all. In fact, the associations have an irreplaceable role that government regulatory agencies cannot replace. The communication industry association should learn from the successful management experience of other associations to make up for the shortcomings of regulatory agencies in supervision. The Tianjin Communication Industry Association has played a positive role in maintaining a fair IP card market.
First of all, the association should attract enough members.
Second, formulate complete rules and regulations.
Third, provide quality services to members.
Fourth, assist operators in managing the agency market and regulating market behavior.
Accelerate the establishment of a credit system
At present, China has not established a sound credit system, and the market economy needs credit to maintain. In order to enable the communication industry to develop healthily and sustainably and to establish a fair, just, effective and orderly market environment, the regulatory authorities must establish a credit system for supervision as soon as possible. The regulatory authorities should first establish a unified credit standard and use the standard to regulate enterprises. Secondly, the credit rating should be shared among the national regulatory authorities to determine the key regulatory targets. Thirdly, timely information disclosure should be carried out, social supervision should be used to improve the credit system and improve the service level of enterprises.
my country's telecommunications industry regulatory reform has made great achievements, but there are still some deficiencies in certain business areas. Only through continuous improvement can we truly establish a fair, just, effective and orderly communications market environment. my country's communications supervision is adapting to the development trend of the telecommunications industry, constantly exploring new models of telecommunications supervision, and giving full play to the regulatory authorities' effective management and allocation of telecommunications resources.
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