China's Networks to Scale World Top by 2005

A superclass symposium "Venture Investment and Future of China's New Economy: Night of Beijing" is being jointly held by China State Information Center and WI Harper Group of US along with the Computer Distributor Expo (COMDEX 2000) on at Las Vegas, US.

Liu He, vice-director of the China State Information Center gave a keynote speech at the symposium. He said China is to top the world by the scale of its networks to be developed by 2005. Also, China will have a telephone coverage up to 36%, an annual 30% growth in information service industry, and an all-round development of e-government and e-commerce.

In the past five years, IT industry has registered a growth speed thrice that of China's GDP, Liu said. At present, telephone users number as many as 210 million, giving a coverage rate of 19% in China. By the number of its telephone switchboards and mobile phone users China must be runner-up of the world. As has been estimated, China's Internet users will be over two million by yearend of the year. Fast paces have been witnessed in the fields of computer, network, information service and software's R&D. A further growth of these is likewise to be promised during the 10th Five-year Plan period in the new century.



By PD Online staff Yin Zhili


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