Beijing will enter a period of high investment in its
telecommunications infrastructure and facilities in the next few
years, a senior Beijing communications official said on Friday.
The move will further enhance and expand its telecommunications
transmissions and network capacities to meet the growing need of
rapidly expanding urban areas and the 2008 Olympic Games.
Wei Deming, vice-general manager of the Beijing Communication
Corporation, said the drafting of an overall development plan for
the city's telecommunications sector is under way.
Wei spoke at a ceremony marking the Qinghe Telephone Bureau of the
Beijing Communication Corporation becoming the 1,000th host
exchange and the 40 millionth port serviced by EWSD (German
abbreviation for a digital switching system) supplied by the
Beijing International Switching System Corporation Ltd (BISC), a
joint venture between Siemens AG of Germany
and four Chinese partners.
By
the end of last year, a total of 7.1 million fixed phone lines had
been put into service in the Chinese capital, about 43 percent of
the total were EWSD models supplied by the Sino-German joint
venture, said Wei, adding that his corporation is strict in
choosing suppliers and emphasizes equipment operation safety and
after-sale services.
Norbert Muhrer, general manager of BISC, said China is one of the
largest telecommunications equipment markets in the world and
registers the highest growth in the telecommunications sector,
which creates enormous business potential for his company.
(China
Daily June 17, 2002)