On February 1, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology recently issued a notice on the quality of telecommunications services in the fourth quarter of 2023. In the fourth quarter of 2023, 35.9% of the complaints of telecom users nationwide were related to service disputes, 46.9% were related to marketing, charging, and tariff disputes, and 17.2% were related to network quality and information security.
Figure 1 Complaints from telecommunication users
In terms of Internet information service complaints, in the fourth quarter of 2023, 47.7% of the complaints received by the Internet information service complaint platform were service function complaints, 25.6% customer service channel complaints, 12.9% personal information protection complaints, and 13.8% other complaints. Among the 175 Internet companies connected to the platform, the timely complaint handling rate of 4 enterprises, including miHoYo, did not meet the relevant requirements, and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has urged the relevant enterprises to properly handle the problems reported by users.
Figure 2 Complaints about Internet information services
In terms of bad mobile apps and spam complaints, in the fourth quarter of 2023, 51.1% of the valid complaints about bad mobile apps were related to cybersecurity issues, 26.5% were related to personal information and permissions, and 22.4% were related to information security issues. Through industry self-discipline, the Internet Society of China, together with app stores and security testing vendors, removed 67 problematic mobile phone apps from the shelves.
Figure 3 Complaints about bad mobile apps
In the fourth quarter of 2023, 61.4% of spam user complaints related to financial complaints such as arrears collection and loan wealth management promotion, 17.1% of complaints related to retail promotion, and 21.5% of other complaints. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology urges relevant telecommunications enterprises to verify and dispose of relevant clues, and transfer clues related to source marketing to relevant industry authorities for handling.
The "Circular" mentions the key work of telecommunication services in the fourth quarter of 2023.
In terms of improving the level of information and communication services, we guided basic telecommunications enterprises to improve the level of facilitation of telecommunications services, with the cumulative number of online services handling accounting for more than 80% and more than 20 million video customer service users. The "Work Plan for Promoting the High-quality Development of Digital Technology for the Elderly" was issued and implemented, guiding 2,577 key websites and apps to complete age-appropriate and barrier-free transformations, organizing the selection of 44 excellent cases, and serving more than 300 million elderly users on the dedicated line for the elderly of basic telecommunications enterprises, helping the elderly enjoy a more comprehensive, convenient and intimate digital life.
In terms of emergency communication support, we have coordinated and dispatched emergency communications forces across the country to respond to 183 emergencies such as low-temperature, rain, snow and freezing disasters and the Jishishan earthquake in Gansu Province in a timely and effective manner, so as to effectively ensure smooth communication between the disaster relief command department and the people in the disaster areas. Carry out the 2023 national emergency communication drill competition and exchange, effectively improve the actual combat ability of professional teams, and build a solid emergency communication "lifeline, support line, and command line". In the fourth quarter, the communications industry invested a total of 292,000 emergency communication support personnel, 56,500 emergency vehicles, repaired and restored 5,824 base stations, 155.4 pico-kilometers of optical cables, and sent 490 million emergency short messages.
In terms of deepening the protection of the rights and interests of APP users, a series of standards have been drafted, such as the "Specifications for the Management and Evaluation of Mobile Internet Application (APP) Compliance Development" and the "Specifications for the Protection of Personal Information of Mini Programs", to guide enterprises to operate in accordance with laws and regulations. Implement the "SDK User Rights and Interests Protection Industry Collaborative Linkage Plan", organize the selection of excellent cases of improving mobile Internet application service capabilities, and promote the joint construction of a healthy industry ecosystem. Released the first personal information protection AI model "Zhiyu" assistant in China, providing intelligent services for APP development and operation, detection and protection, policy interpretation, etc. Efforts were made to rectify outstanding problems such as "shake it" and random jumps, publicly reporting 81 illegal apps and SDKs, and continuing to purify the mobile Internet service environment.
In terms of strengthening the governance of uninvited commercial electronic information, comprehensive measures such as special interviews, on-site supervision, and listing supervision are adopted to strictly regulate the business conduct of telecommunications enterprises. To promote co-governance at the source, the State Administration of Financial Supervision and Administration, the Fujian Supervision Bureau and other five departments jointly issued the "Notice on Regulating Loan Marketing SMS in the Jurisdiction" to improve the efficiency of multi-department co-governance. Vigorously promote the "Do Not Disturb" anti-harassment service, with a total of 620 million registered users, and provide more than 54 billion times of harassment call protection according to users' wishes, so as to promote anti-harassment services to benefit and facilitate the people.
In terms of service quality evaluation, user satisfaction index evaluation is carried out on six types of Internet information services, including map navigation, network video, app store, instant messaging, network disk service, and information information. On the whole, the Internet information service maintained a good level, and the satisfaction index increased steadily. According to the data, the average download rate of 5G mobile phone users exceeds 144Mbps, the average first-pack delay of fixed broadband users to access websites is 0.08 seconds, and the average first-time playback delay of watching videos is 0.55 seconds, and the user experience is excellent.
In addition, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has instructed all basic telecommunications enterprises to promote online handling of common services such as buying number cards, installing broadband, handling packages, checking bills, and recharging and payment.