This paper is concerned with the Cauchy problem of the 3D compressible bipolar Navier-Stokes-Poisson (BNSP) system with unequal viscosities, and our main purpose is threefold: First, under the assumption that H l ∩ L 1 (l ≥ 3)-norm of the initial data is small, we prove the optimal time decay rates of the solution as well as its all-order spatial derivatives from oneorder to the highest-order, which are the same as those of the compressible Navier-Stokes equations and the heat equation. Second, for well-chosen initial data, we also show the lower bounds on the decay rates. Therefore, our time decay rates are optimal. Third, we give the explicit influences of the electric field on the qualitative behaviors of solutions, which are totally new as compared to the results for the compressible unipolar Navier-Stokes-Poisson(UNSP) system [Li et al., in