China’s communications industry had posted a revenue of 378.43 billion yuan (US$45.71 billion) for the first eight months of the year, a year-on-year increase of 12.2 percent, the Ministry of Information Industry announced in a report Tuesday.

Of the total, telecommunications revenue hit 341.76 billion yuan in the first eight months, up 13.1 percent over the year-earlier period. Fixed-line revenue reached 36.67 billion yuan, a year-on-year rise of 4.7 percent.

China’s fixed-line subscribers reached 302.9 million by the end of August, 202.375 million in urban areas and 100.526 million in rural areas.

Meanwhile, mobile phone operators registered an additional 45.15 million mobile phone users from January to August, bringing the total to 315.1 million.

(Shenzhen Daily September 30, 2004)