The high-profiled public hearing on mobile roaming fee ended late yesterday afternoon. Participants have voiced their opinion on the proposed price reduction, and a final decision is yet to be made.

Now let's take a look media's view on the hearing.

Reporter:

A report from Xinhuanet says there were three focus points in the hearing. One is many people believe the two proposed price reduction plans still leaves enough room for further price cuts. The second one concerns the monopoly. China Mobile is already the largest player in the telecommunications market. Roaming fee reduction may bring more local phone consumers to use mobile phones. It will further solidify the monopoly status of China Mobile. Most of the Customers who use roaming services are high income users. The third point of focus is whether reducing roaming fees can actually benefit all users or only high income users.

An article in The Beijing News points out that the hearing leaves many drawbacks. The customers who attended the meeting think that roaming fees should be reduces to a larger extent. Customers want roaming fees canceled, but the hearing did not consider this proposal. There was a lack of transparency in the hearing. Only two journalists were allowed to record the meeting. The roaming fee reduction scheme is related to thousands of customer's interests. But at the meeting, each customer representative was given only 5 minutes to express their ideas. There was no hot discussion or debate. The procedure of such an important hearing should not be over simplified.

The last article explores the reason why the final roaming pricing scheme remains suspended. The author stressed the need for more transparent mobile phone roaming costs. The inquiry should allow the public to have a clear understanding of it and ensure the consumers' rights of being well informed. Unfortunately, this hearing failed to provide information in this regard. Therefore, openness can be deemed symbolic of a proper hearing. It is essential for the public to be totally informed of the decision-making process in order to eliminate any doubts of the process, and find a final solution concerning roaming prices that is in line with the interests of the parties concerned.