In response to a growing chorus of customer complaints, China Mobile Communications issued new rules on Friday that tighten its supervision over wireless service providers.Under the new guidelines, wireless service providers must offer China Mobile customers a one-month trial for all subscription services, including news, information, music, images and ringtone downloads, before charging users for them. In addition, services that are charged on a per-message basis must be converted to a monthly subscription. Previously, service providers were required to offer trial service periods ranging from three to 11 days and could charge for some services on a per-message basis.Service providers are not pleased with the new guidelines. “The impact will be negative and significant,” said Tom Online, warning its revenue could fall 15 percent because of the rule change.The rule change will lower Internet portal operator Sohu.com’s wireless-services revenue by US$1.5 million to $2.5 million per quarter during the second half of the year, the company said. “Although user subscriptions will likely be affected in the near term, the industry’s overall development should benefit in the longer term,” it said. China Mobile’s new guidelines for wireless service providers were issued in response to customer complaints, including allegations that service providers overbilled users. The financial impact on service providers is expected to be clear when companies report their third-quarter results later this year.-Sumner Lemon, IDG News Service (Beijing Bureau) Check out our CIO News Alerts and Tech Informer pages for more updated news coverage. Related content brandpost Who’s paying your data integration tax? Reducing your data integration tax will get you one step closer to value—let’s start today. By Sandrine Ghosh Jun 05, 2023 4 mins Data Management feature 13 essential skills for accelerating digital transformation IT leaders too often find themselves behind on business-critical transformation efforts due to gaps in the technical, leadership, and business skills necessary to execute and drive change. By Stephanie Overby Jun 05, 2023 12 mins Digital Transformation IT Skills tip 3 things CIOs must do now to accurately hit net-zero targets More than a third of the world’s largest companies are making their net-zero targets public, yet nearly all will fail to hit them if they don’t double the pace of emissions reduction by 2030. This puts leading executives, CIOs in particul By Diana Bersohn and Mauricio Bermudez-Neubauer Jun 05, 2023 5 mins CIO Accenture Emerging Technology case study Merck Life Sciences banks on RPA to streamline regulatory compliance Automated bots assisted in compliance, thereby enabling the company to increase revenue and save precious human hours, freeing up staff for higher-level tasks. By Yashvendra Singh Jun 05, 2023 5 mins Digital Transformation Robotic Process Automation Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe