The figures were disclosed Monday in Shanghai by Su Jinsheng, director of the Telecommunication Administration of China's Ministry of Information Industry, at a national Internet conference.

In 2001, business volume in the country's Internet industry totaled 7 billion yuan (about 840 million US dollars), including 4.69 billion yuan (566 million dollars) from Internet service and 530 million yuan (64 million dollars) from on-line advertising and e-shopping.

Many speakers at the conference agreed that paying for using Internet services would become increasingly popular in the future.

Despite heated debate on the user-pay issue for on-line services, local Internet companies are beginning to make more money by publishing new-style on-line advertising and providing a range of on-line information, cell phone message services via the Internet and on-line games.

(Xinhua News Agency November 26, 2002)