China Revising Regulations on Information Industry: Minister

Home>>Business

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, January 09, 2002

China Revising Regulations on Information Industry: Minister

With China's entry into the WTO, the information industry ministry is gearing up to revise a number of regulations to make them consistent with WTO rules, said Information Industry Minister Wu Jichuan. In the last year, Wu signed as many as 18 regulations. He said China gradually amends and revises various telecommunications regulations according to practice.

Regulations to Create Better Environment

Wu said the revision aims to realize the national treatment for overseas enterprises running business in China and create a fair, open and just environment for information industry players from home and abroad.

Regulations as the Foundation

In the last year, he said, he signed as many as 18 regulations which stipulated specific measures covering wide-range of fields, such as bidding for telecommunications projects and use of code resources, thus enriching and improving regulations on telecommunications.

Looking ahead, he said the future law on telecommunications will be based on these regulations, incorporating practical experience, development of new technology and experience of foreign countries.

Revise According to Practice

"We gradually amend and revise various telecommunications regulations according to practice," he said, stressing "the ministry is gearing up for the early enacting of the law on telecommunications."

He said in the past two years, the information industry ministry has enhanced the supervision of the enterprises in the trade, and the promulgation of the regulation on telecommunication has set the rules for introducing competition in the trade and consequently various work in the trade had a rule to abide by.

Info. Industry Saw Healthy Development in 2001

Wu was delighted with the rapid and healthy development of the information industry in 2001.

Output and Sales

He said the information industry remained the number one industry in China with the output reaching1,350 billion yuan, sales standing at 750 billion yuan, and taxes the industry paid reaching 65 billion yuan.

Exports

Although the world economy slowed last year, China's exports of electronic and information products hit US$60 billion, a minor increase compared with the year 2000, he noted.

Statistics show that the business volume of the telecommunications sector in China stood at 366.9 billion yuan and the investment in the trade reached some 200 billion yuan.

Fixed Tel Subcribers

By the end of last November, the number of fixed telephone subscribers in China reached 177 million, second to that of the United States. Mobile phone users, however, totaled 140 million, ranking first worldwide, and the Internet users in China totaled 15.91 million. (Note: US$1 is equal to 8.277 yuan)

China to Surpass Target for Information Industry

Income of information industry in 2001

The latest statistics show that the telecommunications business this year totals 366.9 billion yuan (about 44.2 billion US dollars) -worth, up 24 percent compared with the same period of last year. The total value of the electronic and information product manufacturing sector reached 1.35 trillion yuan, an increase of 27 percent on an annual basis.

During the first 11 months, the income of the communications service reached 362.4 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13. 8 percent.

Original Goal for 2001

At the beginning of this year, Wu Jichuan, minister of information industry, announced the goals of 425.5 billion yuan for the added value of the information industry and 4.5 percent of China's gross domestic product to be contributed by the industry.

Chinese Telecom Industry to Undergo Major Restructuring

China to Surpass Target for Information Industry

Roundup: China's Information Industry Prospers in 2001