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China Telecom reveals bold broadband Internet agenda

China Daily, February 17, 2011

China Telecom is going to triple the user numbers of its new high-speed optical fiber broadband by the end of this year to 30 million and expects to expand that number to more than 100 million by the end of China's 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015), it said in a news release on Wednesday.

The company said that within three years, its broadband network plans to cover every city and convert all low-speed copper broadband wires to fiber optics, which will improve bandwidth capabilities. The maximum Internet speed will increase from 2 megabytes (MB) to 100 MB by 2015.

Under the current Five-Year Plan, released by the government last year, China will place emphasis on developing its telecommunication infrastructure, with total investment in infrastructure reaching 2 trillion yuan ($303 billion), of which broadband development will account for 80 percent, said Hu Shan, an official of the China Academy of Telecommunication Research at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

"Only 23 percent of Chinese families have Internet access now, so China still has huge potential in this industry," said Wang Xiaochu, chairman and chief executive officer of China Telecom.

The company "will follow government policies to improve infrastructure and cooperate with local governments to integrate China's tri-networks", he said.

Tri-network integration (telecommunications, television and the Internet) is a program aimed at providing the three services through a single line.

High-speed broadband is the foundation of China's Internet development, said China Telecom.