China Railcom, a major telecom carrier in China, is expected to invest nine billion yuan (1.2 billion US dollars) this year in an effort to improve network building of the company.

Of the investment, six billion yuan (725 million US dollars) will go to infrastructure construction and three billion yuan (363million US dollars) will be used to retool and improve its present network, reported the Beijing Star Daily Tuesday.

China Railcom will develop new businesses of voice, intelligence, data and IP. The company has created a scheme to draw more clients in 2004 and conference calling and voice messaging are considered crucial measures for the company to win more clients.

China Railcom, formerly affiliated to the Chinese Ministry of Railway, was handed over to the State Property Commission on January 20 and renamed "China Railcom Group Co., Ltd.".

Last year, China Railcom realized 7.14 billion yuan (about 863 million US dollars) in business revenue, an increase of 41 percent from the previous year.

As it is hard to win individual fixed-line telephone subscribers from other telecommunication operators, China Railcom has decided to focus on developing industrial customers and group clients.

To get more competitive in the market, China Railcom will put more substantial efforts into regulating its management.

The company has set its targets for 2004 as 10 billion yuan (1.2 billion US dollars) in sales revenue, 10 million fixed-line telephone subscribers, 700,000 broadband users and more than 100 million yuan (12 million US dollars) in profit.