Chinese Ministry of Information Industry statistics released on Thursday showed that in the first five months of this year, telecommunications revenue totaled 204.22 billion yuan (about 24.6 billion US dollars), an increase of 14.2 percent over the same period last year.

Postal service revenue was 4.22 billion yuan (500 million US dollars) in May, and 21.8 billion yuan (2.6 billion US dollars) in the first five months, up 7.7 percent over the same period last year.

Telecommunication business revenue was 34.69 billion yuan (4.2 billion US dollars) in May, which, in addition to the first four months, totaled 182.42 billion yuan (22 billion US dollars), up 15 percent over the first five months of last year.

In May, the number of telephone users in China reached over 460 million, a rise of 8.182 million. Landlines totaled 232 million and cell phone holders 230 million.

In the first five months, 57.63 billion yuan (6.9 billion US dollars) of fixed asset investment was completed, up 38.3 percent over the corresponding period of last year.

(Xinhua News Agency June 20, 2003)