ITU (International Telecommunication Union) Telecom World 2006 opened in Hong Kong Sunday evening. At the opening ceremony, China's top legislator Wu Bangguo said that China's telecommunication is developing rapidly in recent years and China has become the biggest and fastest-growing telecommunication market in the world.

Following are the facts and figures of the development of China's telecommunication in recent years.

-- From 2000 to October, 2006, fixed phone subscribers up from 145 million to 371 million, or an average annual growth of 21 percent;

-- From 2000 to October, 2006, mobile phone subscribers up from85 million to 449 million, or an average annual growth of 40 percent;

-- From 2000 to October, 2006, internet users up from 33.7 million to 131 million, or an average annual growth of 32 percent;

-- So far, China's phone subscribers account for one fourth of the world; internet users one tenth of the world.

-- From 2000 to 2005, sales volume of China's telecommunication production up from 607 billion yuan (US$77.82 billion) to 3.8 trillion yuan (US$487.18 billion), or an average annual growth of 31 percent, ranking the third in the world. 

(Xinhua News Agency December 4, 2006)