Monday, February 05, 2001, updated at 15:30(GMT+8)
Sci-Edu
Telephones Available for Over 60% Families in Qingdao
By the end of 2000, over 1.5 million families, taking up more than 60 percent of urban and rural areas in Qingdao, used telephones, thus making it the first telephone city with the largest number of telephone users in Shandong Province.
In the last five years, Qingdao Telecom built up a world-level telecommunication network and by using world top equipment from Lucent and Alcatel the capacity of telephone switchboard increased at a rate of 300,000 users per year. Meanwhile, the China-ROK submarine optical cable, Dalian-Qingdao-Shanghai coastline optical cable, and Qingdao-Yinchuan photoelectric cable were opened to smooth the information exchange between Qingdao and other places in China and abroad.
The large-scale and high-quality telecommunication network has provided a solid foundation for the development and popularization of telephones in Qingdao. To cater to the demands of telephone users in Qingdao's urban and rural areas in 2000 the city Telecom has increased capacity of telephone switchboard and laid a number of optical cables and electric cables with an additional investment of RMB 2.1bn yuan.
By the end of 2000, over 1.5 million families, taking up more than 60 percent of urban and rural areas in Qingdao, used telephones, thus making it the first telephone city with the largest number of telephone users in Shandong Province.