Section 4 Telecommunications Resources

Article 27. With respect to telecommunications resources, the State shall carry out uniform planning, centralized administration and reasonable allocation and shall implement a system of use with compensation.

"Telecommunications Resources" as referred to in the preceding paragraph shall mean resources that have telecommunications functions and are limited in amount, including radio frequencies, satellite orbit locations, telecommunications network codes, etc.

Article 28. A telecommunications operator that occupies or uses telecommunications resources shall pay telecommunications resource fees. The specific measures for fee collection shall be formulated by the supervisory department for information industry under the State Council jointly with the finance and pricing departments under the State Council and shall be promulgated for implementation upon the approval of the State Council.

Article 29. The allocation of telecommunications resources shall be made taking into consideration telecommunications resource planning, usage, and expected service capability.

The allocation of telecommunications resources may be made using either by designation or by auction.

An operator that obtains the right to use telecommunications resources shall start to use the allocated resources within the stipulated time limit and achieve the stipulated minimum utilization scale. Without the approval of the supervisory department for the information industry under the State Council or the telecommunications administration authority of the province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the central government, the operator may not unilaterally use, transfer or lease out telecommunications resources or change the use of telecommunications resources.

Article 30. After a user of telecommunications resources obtains a telecommunications network code, major telecommunications operators or other relevant parties shall be obligated to take the necessary technical measures to cooperate with such user of telecommunication resources to allow it to achieve functionality of its telecommunications network code resource.

If other laws and administrative regulations have special provisions on the administration of telecommunications resources, such provisions shall be followed.

Chapter 3 Telecommunications Services

Article 31. Telecommunications operators shall provide services to telecommunications subscribers in accordance with the standards provided by the State for telecommunications services. The type, scope, rate and term of service provided by telecommunications operators shall be announced to the public and filed with telecommunications administration authorities of the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government for the record.

Telecommunications subscribers shall have the right to use as they may choose the various types of telecommunications businesses operated in accordance with law.

Article 32. With respect to applications for the installation or movement of telecommunications terminal equipment by telecommunications subscribers, telecommunications operators shall guarantee the installation and connection of equipment within the time limit announced by them. In the case of failure to install and connect the equipment within the scheduled time due to the fault of a telecommunications operator, default penalties shall be paid to the telecommunications subscriber for each day in the amount of 1% of the amount of the installation fees, moving fees or other expenses charged.

Article 33. In the case of a complaint of telecommunications service breakdown by a telecommunications subscriber, the telecommunications operator shall repair or reroute connections within 48 hours in cities and towns and 72 hours in rural areas, from the time of receipt of the complaint. Where the breakdown cannot be repaired or connections cannot be re-routed, the telecommunications subscriber shall be notified promptly and the monthly rental fee shall be waived during the breakdown period. However, this shall not apply to breakdowns in telecommunications services caused by telecommunications terminal equipment.

Article 34. Telecommunications operators shall facilitate payment and inquiries made by telecommunications subscribers. If a telecommunications subscriber requests a bill of charges for domestic long-distance telecommunications, international telecommunications, mobile telecommunications or information services, a telecommunications operator shall provide it without charge.

If a telecommunications operator becomes aware of that an extraordinary amount of charges has appeared on a telecommunications bill of a telecommunications subscriber, it shall inform the telecommunications subscriber thereof as soon as possible and shall carry out relevant measures.

An "extraordinary amount of charges appearing on a telecommunications bill" as referred to in the previous paragraph shall mean fees of a telecommunications subscriber that are more than five times the average telecommunications fees for the previous three months.