China's telecom charges witnessed a dramatic drop last year after a series of internal reforms, said an official with the Ministry of Information Industry (MII) on Tuesday.

China's telecom subscribers are enjoying more substantial communication services as the telecom industry was opened up to competition as opposed to there being a monopoly in the sector, said Xi Guohua, vice minister of the MII, at the meeting on telecom services in 2006.

Statistics with the ministry show that the average telecom charge has dropped 45 percent in 2005 compared to 2001. Last year the proportion between the country's telecom revenue and businesses was 0.5 to 1, while the figure was 0.9 to 1 five years ago.

In the past few years, telecommunications in China's rural areas have developed significantly, Xi said, noting that the project, "to install phones for all the villages." has attained significant progress.

Up to now, China has invested 15.9 billion yuan (about US$2 billion) in the project by installing phones for 52,800 villages. About 97 percent of villages in the country have contact the outside world.

Xi said China's telecom industry sustained a sound and harmonious development last year, noting that the information industry, together with electronic manufacturing, accounted for about seven percent of China's national economy.

The telecom industry will endeavor to promote its development, aiming to make up some 10 percent of the country's GDP in the next five years, Xi said.

(Xinhua News Agency March 15, 2006)