Mobile signals put Line 8 commuters on the horn

By Tom Qian | July 17, 2009, Friday |

Online Edition

MOBILE phone services to users of two major cell operators will begin tomorrow on the extension of Line 8 on a trial run after commuters complained about the lack of handset signals, Shentong Metro Group said.

Since the extension opened on July 5, commuters have complained about a lack of mobile phone signals for both China Unicom and China Telecom services.

A disagreement over service fees between the Metro operator and mobile phone service companies was the reason some passengers couldn't use their handsets, Shanghai Morning Post reported today. Only China Mobile users can use their cell phones at those stations.

Shentong Metro Group was asked to provide mobile signals immediately, the Shanghai Communications Administration said yesterday.

Shentong Metro charges a "service entering fee" of 1.2 million (US$175,439) yuan for each underground station, industry insiders said in the report. The second phase of Line 8 has four underground stations, meaning each operator has to pay 4.8 million yuan to provide mobile services. The entering fee was only 200,000 yuan for each underground station in the 1990s. Mobile phone service operators disagree with the high fee, the report said.

The Metro operator also collects other fees including "network-covering" and equipment maintenance fees.

According to the report, Shentong Metro denied it was charging such high fees.

Metro

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Mobile signals put Line 8 commuters on the horn

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