China's Telephone Users Top Over 317 Million

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, December 24, 2001

China's Telephone Users Top Over 317 Million

China's information industry has maintained a rapid growth this year. By the end of November, the number of telephone users in the country reached 317 million, surged by 87.56 million between January and November alone. Information products such as handsets, computers, etc. have become popular hot cakes one after another. The revenue of national telecom business amounted to 362.4 billion yuan.

Info. Industry Becomes Top Pillar Industry

Statistics early this year showed that the information industry had become China's top pillar industry of the national economy. From this year, huge market demand continues boosting the information industry.

Information products such as handsets, computers, etc. have become popular hot cakes one after another. With the development of China's telecom industry, demand for telecom facilities and network equipment keeps on the rise.

Telecom Business Runners Grow

According to latest statistics provided by the Ministry of Information Industry, fixed asset investment in telecom industry of the country reached 197.9 billion yuan between January and November this year, up 54 percent over the same period last year.

The revenue of national telecom business amounted to 362.4 billion yuan, up 13.8 percent. Revenue of China Telecom, China Mobile and China Unicom surged by 6.3, 20.9 and 51.2 percent respectively.

Telecom Users Benefit

Telecom users benefit from the competition by getting more and better services. User number of telecom industry maintains a rapid growth. Figures of users of different types of services surged by a large margin. In the first 11 months this year, China reports 32.918 million new fixed telephone users with the total number topping 177 million. Handset users amounted to 140 million including 54.646 million new. Registered users of Internet increased by 1.039 million to 15.881 million.

At the end of this year, the State Council approved the program of telecom system reform for China Telecom's north-south split plan. New China Telecom and Netcom are under organization. China has entered an essential phase to break the monopoly in the telecom industry. A new competitive telecom pattern is taking shape.

State Council Approves China Telecom's North-South Split Plan

The State Council recently approved China Telecom's restructuring plan, under which the telecom giant is to be divided into the north sector and the south sector.

The north sector will regroup with China Netcom and Jitong to become a net communication group company. The south sector maintains the name and credit of "China Telecom", as well as its intangible assets.

China's Telephone Subscribers Exceed 300 Million

By the end of September 2001, the number of telephone subscribers has reached 302 million, a new record in the development history of China's telecommunications industry.

The country now has seven major enterprises and a number of small and medium-sized enterprises competing in the communications and information service market.

By PD Online staff member Du Minghua

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