Fixed-line giant China Telecom has halted its controversial call-forwarding service just 10 days after its launch.
'We were told by headquarters that we cannot provide such a service because of a shortage [of the devices required to operate it],' a sales representative in Guangzhou told the South China Morning Post.
A sales representative from Shenzhen also said the devices were not available there.
State-owned Guangzhou Television reported on Monday that the fixed-line giant had stopped providing the call-forwarding service in Guangzhou following strong opposition from the mainland's two cellular operators, China Mobile and China Unicom.
Both companies have lodged complaints to telecommunications regulator the Ministry of Information Industry (MII).
Spokesmen for the mobile companies said last week they believed China Telecom was not authorised to market such a service without approval from the MII, which it had yet to obtain.