China's investment in the telecommunication sector registered 78.53 billion yuan (US$9.68 billion) in the first half of this year, down 12.2 percent from the 2004 period.

Beijing-based China Securities Journal said on Friday that the investment in the postal sector came to 720 million yuan (US$88.7 million), a year-on-year decrease of 10.5 percent.

The report quoted data from the Ministry of Information as saying that in the January-June period, China's mobile phone users increased by 28.344 million and broadband users grew by 6.777 million.

By the end of June, the country's mobile phone and broadband users reached 336.2 million and 31.65 million respectively.

(Xinhua News Agency August 1, 2005)