Carriers' latest rate cuts leave callers cold

Chinese netizens are not impressed with the "Big Three" telecom carriers' moves to reduce rates after repeated requests by Premier Li Keqiang, who has demanded better service and lower costs.

More than 100,000 netizens took an online satisfaction survey organized by portal sina.com over the weekend, and most blasted the nation's still high fourth-generation telecom traffic rates. About 85 percent of the respondents said they were "dissatisfied" with the latest round of price reductions, announced by the carriers last week.

"The carriers are just putting on a show; it means little for me as an end-user," said Michael Chen, a 28-year-old pharmaceutical salesman living in Beijing. "I think Premier Li's orders went to waste."