Telephone and mobile phone users in China are expected to receive an itemized list of phone call payments for all local calls this year, a major step by telecommunications operators to improve their service.

Vice Minister of Information Industry Xi Guohua said at the annual national telecom service conference Tuesday that the new service has been included in the ministry's working plan of 2006.

Currently, telephone and mobile phone users in China can only get long-distance call listings.

By introducing the listings, Xi said, the ministry will improve its service this year through targeting some core issues that consumers complained most about last year.

According to the ministry, nearly half of the complaints it received last year focused on the value-added service sector, such as telecom charges and short message service. Some users also complained about the low-speed internet service.

Deputy director of the ministry's telecommunication administration Lu Yang said the ministry is working on a uniform internet access service standard and hopes to offer faster internet service for subscribers in the future.

As telecom charges have dropped in recent years, complaints from users have also reduced. A probe with the ministry shows that the general satisfactory index on China's telecom service was 77 points last year, 0.7 points higher than the previous year.

The ministry investigated customer satisfaction in the country's telecom service between last Dec. and Feb. this year, with the survey involving the country's five major operators and more than 700 million users.

According to the ministry, improving telecom services has also been listed as a crucial part of China's 11th Five-Year Program between 2006 and 2010, with specific goals and steps already drafted.

Source: Xinhua