Switch carrier and retain phone number

Source: Xinhua | 2019-03-06

CHINA will allow all mobile users to switch telecommunications carriers while retaining their existing mobile numbers in 2019.

The new “number switch” policy, announced by Premier Li Keqiang in the government work report yesterday, offers consumers additional choice and makes the telecommunications market more fair and competitive.

China will cut average mobile data traffic costs by more than 20 percent in 2019.

Meanwhile, broadband costs for small and medium-sized enterprises will be cut by 15 percent this year, the premier said.

The long-awaited policy protects consumer rights and forces carriers, including China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom, to offer users better and more competitive services. 

In 2019, mobile data costs will continue to decline, following a 63 percent drop last year, Miao Wei, minister of industry and information technology, said on the sidelines of the annual session of the National People’s Congress.

Carriers including China Mobile and China Telecom said they would prepare for the policy.

The telecommunications market in China has more competition nowadays. For example, China Telecom, the biggest fixed-line and broadband service provider nationwide, offers mobile services with unlimited data plans in Shanghai.

China Mobile, the country’s biggest mobile carrier, offers low-cost and even free broadband services in Shanghai.