By the end of 2000 communication optical cable has penetrated into 51 counties (or ports) of Tibet Autonomous Region to see a coverage of 68.92 percent, according to the Tibetan branch of China Telecom. By now the six Tibetan prefectures (except for Ngari) and Lhasa City have all been covered by optical cable with the total length of 5,318 kilometers.
The region has recently seen a rapid and stable development in telecom industry. During the 9th Five-Year Plan period over 900m yuan was injected as fixed assets investment and infrastructure construction was much improved. In 2000, telephone users in Tibet exceeded 100,000 to reach 111,055, with an average of 4.7 phone-sets for every hundred people.
So far telephones have entered into 321 townships at a coverage of 33.58 percent, while for urban people every hundred have 26.7 telephones.
By the end of 2000 communication optical cable has penetrated into 51 counties (or ports) of Tibet Autonomous Region to see a coverage of 68.92 percent, according to the Tibetan branch of China Telecom.