Basic Conditions of Postal and Telecommunications Services
Indicator	Unit	1985	1990	1995	1998	1999	2000	2001
Business volume of postal
and telecommunications service
Total business volume of postal
and telecommunications services	100 million yuan	29.6	81.65	988.85	2431.21	3311	4792.70	4556.27
Business volume of postal service	100 million yuan			113.34	166.28	198.4	232.80	457.42
Business volume of
telecommunications service	100 million yuan			875.51	2264.94	3112.6	4559.90	4098.95
Number of letters	100 million yuan	46.78	54.87	79.55	65.51	60.5	77.71	86.90
Number of Parcels	10,000 pieces	7612.7	9690.1	15641.2	9726.5	9741.9	9600.3
Express mails	10,000 pieces		343.3	5562.7	7331.8	9091.8	11031.4	12652.7
Newspaper and magazine circulation	10,000 copies	30172	20078	21688.6	22989.3	25035.2	20089.7	21811
Number of long distance telephone calls	10,000	38254	116292	1013966	1825941	1942000	2107542	21998
Number of paging service subscribers	10,000		43.7	1739.2	3908.2	4718	4884.3	3606.0
Number of mobile telephone subscribers	10,000		1.8	362.9	2386.3	4324	8453.3	14522.0
Internet users				7213	676755	890000	-
Year-end number of local
telephone subscribers	10,000	312	685	4070.6	8742.1	10880.7	14485.0	18036.8
Urban telephone subscribers	10,000	219	538.4	3263.6	6259.8	7462.8	9311.6	11193.7
Residential telephone subscribers	10,000	4.1	152.7	2358.4	4911.1	5883.6	7219.4	8535.3
Rural telephone subscribers	10,000	93.1	146.6	807	2482.3	3417.9	5171.3	6843.1
Residential telephone subscribers	10,000	2	30.7	551.4	2070.7	2949.9	4597.8	6197.7
Public telephone users	10,000	2.7	4.6	85	259.5	300.8	352.0	346.2
Post/telecommunications
offices and routes/lines
Number of post and
telecommunications offices		53107	53629	61898	102225	66649	58437	57136
Length of postal routes
and rural delivery routes	km	4982061	4983061	5231930	6215426	6327100	6430000	6595300
Highway routes	km	663016	676747	819412	930622	989122	-
Railway routes	km	182178	191313	183036	189652	190056	-
Number of long distance telephone lines		37551	112437	735545	1576483	1760000	2201746	33944000
Length of long distance optical cable lines	km		3334	106882	194100	250000	286642	399082
Telecommunications equipment
Capacity of long
distance telephone exchanges	10,000 terminals	1.15	16.14	351.88	449.16	493	563.55	703.58
Capacity of local office
telephone exchanges	10,000 lines	613.44	1231.82	7203.59	13823.66	16000	17826.7	20532
Central State-owned	10,000 lines	336.54	826.05	5456.35	9951.35	11000	13307.2
Local State-owned	10,000 lines	276.91	405.77	1747.24	3872.31	5000	4519.5
Number of telephones
(including mobile telephones)	10,000 sets	625.98	1233.16	5762.26	13123.43	17000	25604.8	35339
Central State-owned	10,000 sets	476.11	1026.1	4346.32	7963.28		21085.9
Local State-owned	10,000 sets	149.87	205.23	1152.06	2773.86	7600	4518.9
Notes: 1. The total business volume of postal and telecommunications service is based on the 1990 fixed price.
2. As of 1999, post and telecommunications office became post office.