Circular of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on the Quality of Telecommunication Services (No.2 of 2019)

Ministry of Industry and Information Technology Letter No.176 [2019]

　　According to the relevant provisions of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Telecommunications Regulations, the relevant information about telecommunications services in the first quarter of 2019 is hereby notified as follows:

　　I. Supervision on the Protection of Personal Information of Telecommunications and Internet Users

　　In the first quarter, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology organized a spot check on 106 Internet services of 100 Internet companies, and found that 18 Internet companies did not disclose the rules for the collection and use of users’ personal information, did not inform the channels for inquiring and correcting information, and did not provide account cancellation services (see Annex 1 for details), and ordered relevant enterprises to rectify.

　　Organized a technical inspection of the application software of 50 mobile phone application stores, and found 33 pieces of illegal software, involving illegal collection and use of users’ personal information, forced bundling and promotion of other application software, etc. (see Annex 2 for details). The illegal software was removed from the shelves and ordered to be rectified.

　　Second, the telecom users’ complaints and reports

　　(1) Complaints about telecommunications services. In the first quarter, the total number of telephone users nationwide reached 1.789 billion, including 1.597 billion mobile phone users. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the telecommunications user complaint acceptance agencies in various provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government) accepted 18,057 complaints from telecommunications users, up by 2.9% month-on-month and 5.9% year-on-year (see Annexes 3 and 4 for details). Complaints about fee disputes accounted for 34.7%, down 4.5% from the previous month; Complaints about user services accounted for 42.9%, up 3.9% from the previous month; Complaints about network quality accounted for 22.3%, up 0.6% from the previous month. Complaint acceptance agencies at all levels have handled and mediated user complaints in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Measures for Handling Complaints of Telecom Users, effectively safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of telecom users.

　　(two) complaints about spam. In the first quarter, 12321 Internet Bad and Spam Reporting Acceptance Center (hereinafter referred to as 12321 Reporting Acceptance Center) accepted 209,278 complaints from users about harassing calls, a decrease of 9.3% from the previous month. Among them, the number of complaints reported by harassing phone number 95/96 increased significantly, up 35.4% month-on-month, and the loan financing category ranked first. We received 87,203 complaints and reports from users about spam messages, a decrease of 16.3% from the previous month. Among them, the number of complaints reported by SMS in financial and insurance, retail promotion and game promotion was the top three.

　　(3) Reporting of bad mobile phone applications. In the first quarter, the 12321 report acceptance center received 81,495 effective reports of bad mobile phone applications, down 40.61% year-on-year and 21.40% quarter-on-quarter. Through industry self-discipline, 277 bad mobile phone applications with problems were removed from the shelves in conjunction with application stores and security testing vendors.

　　(four) fraudulent telephone number users to report the situation. In the first quarter, the 12321 report acceptance center received a total of 7665 reports of fraudulent telephone numbers, a decrease of 34.59% from the previous month. Supervise the relevant telecommunications enterprises to verify and dispose of the above-mentioned report numbers, and notify the public security organs of suspected illegal crimes.

　　III. Supervision of Telecommunication Services

　　(1) The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the Guiding Opinions on the Work Style Construction and Rectification in the Information and Communication Industry in 2019 (No.65 [2019] of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology) to further optimize the information and communication market environment, promote the implementation of cybersecurity responsibilities, enhance people’s sense of gain, and establish a good atmosphere in the industry.

　　(II) In the first quarter, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the communication administrations of all provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government) investigated the responsibilities of the problems found in the inspection and the acts infringing on the legitimate rights and interests of telecom users in accordance with the relevant provisions of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Telecommunications Regulations, and supervised 16 cases of accountability and investigated 16 cases of illegal telecom enterprises.

　　(3) In the first quarter, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the communication administrations of provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government) organized basic telecommunications enterprises to intercept harassing calls and spam messages more than 1 billion times a month, interviewed more than 40 enterprises with serious harassing calls, and transferred about 26,000 problem clues to relevant source management departments.

　　(IV) In the first quarter, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology organized basic telecommunications enterprises to intercept 14.66 million false "+86" international calls, and used short messages, flash messages and other technical means to send 180 million suspected fraudulent telephone tips.

　　(V) In the first quarter, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology notified 8 enterprises involved in telecommunication network fraud, and urged relevant enterprises to effectively strengthen problem rectification and responsibility implementation.

　　(VI) In the first quarter, the tasks of communication support for the Spring Festival and the "two sessions" were successfully completed, and major emergencies such as the explosion of Xiangshui Chemical Plant in Yancheng, Jiangsu Province and the forest fire in Liangshan, Sichuan Province were properly dealt with in a timely manner. A total of 203,000 emergency communication support personnel, 13,000 emergency communications equipment such as vehicles, 17,000 oil engines and satellite phones were invested, and damaged communication facilities were quickly repaired and restored, and a total of 10,000 base stations were restored. 75,600 emergency short messages were sent to ensure the smooth communication of disaster relief command, party, government, army and other important departments, and quickly restore communication services in disaster areas, effectively ensuring the smooth operation of the public communication network as a whole.

　　(VII) The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology organized the second post-certification supervision and inspection in 2018, and randomly selected 20 telecom terminal devices from 20 enterprises, focusing on the consistency of products before and after obtaining network access license. Spot-check shows that there are problems in the consistency of three types of telecom terminal equipment before and after entering the network (see Annex 5 for details). The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has ordered enterprises with product problems to rectify and take effective measures to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of users in accordance with the Measures for the Administration of Telecommunication Equipment Access to Networks and other relevant regulations.

　　Fourth, consumption tips

　　(1) The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology reminds users to raise their awareness of safety precautions. Don’t trust calls and text messages of unknown origin. If you receive calls of marketing harassment or suspected fraud, please call 12321 or the customer service hotline of telecom enterprises to report them in time.

　　(2) The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology reminds users to download mobile phone application software from formal channels, and pay attention to reading the service agreement, user privacy policy and instructions for calling mobile phone rights when installing, so as to enhance their awareness of prevention and safeguard their legitimate rights and interests.

　　(3) The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology reminds users to enhance their awareness of telecommunication network fraud prevention, and beware of overseas fraudulent short messages pretending to be "airline customer service", "credit card service" and "loan business service". Such short messages mostly use users’ personal information for accurate fraud, which is highly confusing.

　　Attachment:

????1. List of Internet companies that found problems in the inspection of users’ personal information protection in the first quarter of 2019.

????2. List of application software that found problems in the first quarter of 2019

????3. Statistics on classification of user complaints of basic telecommunications enterprises in the first quarter of 2019

????4. List of value-added telecom enterprises and mobile resale enterprises mainly involved in user complaints in the first quarter of 2019.

????5. List of telecom terminal equipment found in the second post-certification supervision and inspection in 2018

　　Ministry of Industry and Information Technology

June 27, 2019