Information industry makes a historical leap forward

There were 110 million telephone subscribers in China in 1998, of which 24.98 million were mobile phones. In Jul 1999, the overall teledensity reached 12.06%, while teledensity in cities was 28.2%. Some 67% of China's administrative villages now have access to telephone services. Significant changes are set to take place in China's telecommunications sector in the first decade of the 21st century. By 2010, the overall communications capacity will be double that of 2000, with the central office telephone switching capacity totalling 370 million lines.