Beijing will establish a high-grade information network system in five years, in a move to improve people's living quality and promote local information service industry.
Fan Boyuan, director of Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission, outlined the plan Wednesday on the ongoing fourth session of the 11th Municipal People's Congress.
According to the program, Beijing will build networks based on the wide-band IP solutions and fiber cable technologies to serve as large scale information processing infrastructures for various industries and local residential communities.
Realizing the operation of on-line businesses in governmental offices by the end of this year, and advocating integration among current networks of telecommunication, cable TV broadcasts and computers, some of Beijing's informatization, will depend on the construction of the new information system.
Zhongguancun, known as China's "Silicon Valley," will take much responsibility to spur Beijing's informatization drive, as some 80 percent of enterprises in this high-tech zone are involved in the information industry, said Fan.
Statistics show that now 100 Beijing households own 23 computers and 60 percent of the population has access to cable TV broadcast so far.
By the end of last year, the Internet surfers in Beijing has amounted to over 4 million, accounting for 30 percent of the permanent residents.
(Xinhua 02/09/01)
