Mobile Phone Coverage Complaints on Shanghai Metro

Commuters on a new metro train service in Shanghai, China have been complaining that promised mobile phone coverage is only available for China Mobile subscribers. The Shanghai Morning Post reported that a dispute between the railway operator and two mobile operators, China Unicom and China Telecom is behind the lack of service.

Shentong Metro Group has been told to settle the dispute over pricing and provide mobile signals immediately, the Shanghai Communications Administration said.

The newspaper noted that the metro railway has hiked the access costs charged to the mobile networks from RMB200,000 per station to RMB1.2 million over the past decade. The Metro operator also collects other fees including "network-covering" and equipment maintenance fees.

On the web: Shanghai Morning Post via Shanghai Daily

Posted to the site on 17th July 2009