Some areas of China's fast-growing telecommunications industry showed signs of a slowdown in the first nine months this year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

The output of program-controlled switchboards surged 17.7 percent year-on-year to 32.12 million lines between January and September, the bureau said.

However, production of optical communications equipment plummeted 35.6 percent on an annual basis to 11,295 units, and that of carrier communications equipment dropped 4.4 percent to 5, 523 units.

In the meantime, the country produced 21.25 million sets of mobile communications equipment during the period, a drastic increase of 62.3 percent.

Production of computers during the time enjoyed a 259-percent increase to a total of 4,419 units while that of microcomputers soared 71.3 percent to 3.17 million.

Computer manufacturers in China have enjoyed a rapid growth these years, and recent surveys show that more and more Chinese are planning to buy their own personal computers. (Xinhua)