Wu Jichuan, Minister of the Information Industry, made a summery report on the development of China's information industry in 1999 at the National Information Industry Working Conference held in Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan Province.

Last year, the communication business registered an income of 280.3 billion yuan, up 24.6 percent over the previous year; profits and taxes 32.1 billion yuan, up 38 percent; and investment in fixed assets over151.8 billion yuan. The electronic information product manufacturing industry recorded a sales income of 430 billion yuan, up by 27.7 percent; profits and taxes 33 billion yuan, by 39 percent; total export volume US$39 billion, by 45 percent.

The communication and information sector maintains a rapid growth. The telecommunications service earned an income of 243.3 billion yuan, up 24.1 percent. There was an increase in the number of new subscribers: 21.39 million for fixed phone lines, and 17.96 million for mobile phone lines.The rate of popularity of telephones hit 13 percent nationwide, and 28.4 percent in urban areas, 79.8 percent of the administrative villages were made accessible to telephones. Internet users through special lines and fixed phone lines hit 8.9 million. By the end of 1999, China had had more than 15,0000 website in the Chinese language and over 2,300 registered official websites. The number of national cyber-information systems established by the use of public network. had amounted to 86. 32¡Á2.5Gb/s (32¡Á 2£®5Gb£¯s wave-separating and multipurpose equipment was successfully developed. TD¡ªSCDMA, standard of telecommunications developed by China independently, had been selected as the third generation of standard for mobile communications by the International Telecommunication Union, which marked a new improvement in the innovative level of China's communication technology. Postal communication service has developed rapidly, it registered a business income of 36.98 billion yuan, up 28.8 percent. ¡¡¡¡

The ongoing reform and reorganization made major breakthroughs in 1999. National mobile and fixed communication enterprises had successfully completed the work of separating human, financial and material resources, realizing independent, specialized operation respectively.

Functions in management have been strengthened. Regulations on Telecommunication Management had been drawn up and reported to the State Council for approval. Regulations on Wireless Telecom Administration is being busily revised. A series of rules on market access and internet are being formulated and perfected one after another. Administration and market supervision and control have been intensified according to law.

Further achievements had been gained in cultural and ethical progress, marked improvement made in the quality of telecom service,--all these are to the greater satisfaction of the users.