China's 3G Users Hit 25.2m by End of June

BEIJING, July 21 -- China's third-generation (3G) mobile phone service subscribers numbered 25.2 million at the end of June, up 40 percent from the first quarter, said Zhang Feng, a senior official with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), Tuesday.

Direct investment in 3G for the whole year would be between 90 billion and 95 billion yuan ($13 billion-$14 billion) compared with 160.9 billion yuan last year, Zhang said.

China's telecommunication firms invested 19.2 billion yuan on the 3G network construction in first half.

The 3G data transmission speed indoors, outdoors and in a moving vehicle were up to 2 million bits per second (bps), 384,000 bps and 144,000 bps respectively, compared with the 2G outdoor transmission speed of 171,000 bps.

China's 3G services allowed for video calls between 3G subscribers, and television and Internet access.

Zhang also said the industry would press ahead with the "Three Networks Integration" program to meet consumer demand for diverse telecommunication services. The program would allow users to make telephone calls, surf the Internet and watch television through a single cable or wireless entrance.

On June 30, the government announced 12 cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Nanjing, were approved for the program.