Addressing the Economists Conferences' Second China Telecommunications Roundtable, Liu Cai, vice chairman of the China Institute of Communications, said that against the specter of global recession of telecommunications sector, China's telecommunications market has kept its quick development pace.

In the meantime, the popularization rate of telecommunications service in China is close to the world's average, he said, stressing that this clearly demonstrates the great potential of the Chinese market.

Statistics show that the number of telephone users increased by 57.96 million in China in the first seven months of this year, of which 22.628 million are fixed phone users and 35.339 million are mobile phones. The fixed phone users had totaled 167 million, ranking second in the world while the number of mobile phone users stood at 121 million, ranking the first in the world.

While extending her congratulations to China's impending accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), Lee Tuthill, senior counselor of the WTO, said with China's entry into WTO, a more open and orderly telecommunications market means more cooperation and business opportunities for all telecommunications companies worldwide.

The growth of China telecommunications market is estimated at an annual rate of 30 to 35 percent over the next couple of years. The main drivers will be in the wireless arena together with the metro optical markets, said Ian W. Johnston, technology director with Agilent Technologies, a telecommunications company majoring in communications, electronics, life sciences and health care.

The Roundtable, starting in Beijing on Thursday morning, will last two days.

(Xinhua News Agency 09/21/2001)