Short facts about communications in China

Telephones - main lines in use:

135 million (2000)

Telephones - mobile cellular:

65 million (January 2001)

Telephone system:

general assessment:  domestic and international services are increasingly available for private use; unevenly distributed domestic system serves principal cities, industrial centers, and many towns domestic:  interprovincial fiber-optic trunk lines and cellular telephone systems have been installed; a domestic satellite system with 55 earth stations is in place international:  satellite earth stations - 5 Intelsat (4 Pacific Ocean and 1 Indian Ocean), 1 Intersputnik (Indian Ocean region) and 1 Inmarsat (Pacific and Indian Ocean regions); several international fiber-optic links to Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Russia, and Germany (2000)

Radio broadcast stations:

AM 369, FM 259, shortwave 45 (1998)

Radios:

417 million (1997)

Television broadcast stations:

3,240 (of which 209 are operated by China Central Television, 31 are provincial TV stations and nearly 3,000 are local city stations) (1997)

Televisions:

400 million (1997)

Internet country code:

.cn

Internet Service Providers (ISPs):

3 (2000)

Internet users:

22 million (January 2001)

Source: World Factbook