The number of phone subscribers in rural areas in underdeveloped Gansu Province, northwest China, topped one million at the end of August, a leap from 420,000 in 2000 and 97,000 in 1998, according to the provincial telecommunication company.

The big increase is attributed to local investment of more than one billion yuan (some 120 million US dollars) in building electricity grids and the adoption of preferential policies for telecommunication development in the countryside in the landlocked province.

So far, telephone service is available in 99.5 percent of towns in Gansu and 70 percent of local villages.

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