Beijing will enter a period of high investment in its telecommunications infrastructure and facilities in the next few years, a senior Beijing communications official said on Friday.

The move will further enhance and expand its telecommunications transmissions and network capacities to meet the growing need of rapidly expanding urban areas and the 2008 Olympic Games.

Wei Deming, vice-general manager of the Beijing Communication Corporation, said the drafting of an overall development plan for the city's telecommunications sector is under way.

Wei spoke at a ceremony marking the Qinghe Telephone Bureau of the Beijing Communication Corporation becoming the 1,000th host exchange and the 40 millionth port serviced by EWSD (German abbreviation for a digital switching system) supplied by the Beijing International Switching System Corporation Ltd (BISC), a joint venture between Siemens AG of Germany and four Chinese partners.

By the end of last year, a total of 7.1 million fixed phone lines had been put into service in the Chinese capital, about 43 percent of the total were EWSD models supplied by the Sino-German joint venture, said Wei, adding that his corporation is strict in choosing suppliers and emphasizes equipment operation safety and after-sale services.

Norbert Muhrer, general manager of BISC, said China is one of the largest telecommunications equipment markets in the world and registers the highest growth in the telecommunications sector, which creates enormous business potential for his company.

(China Daily June 17, 2002)