China's telecom sector posts slower growth in first 4 months

BEIJING - China's telecom sector recorded slower revenue growth in the first four months, according to official data.

The sector's revenue edged up 0.7 percent year-on-year to 446.3 billion yuan (about $64.7 billion) in the January-April period, data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) showed.

The pace was down 0.3 percentage points from that registered in the first quarter.

In breakdown, the revenue of fixed-line services saw an 11-percent year-on-year increase to 140.5 billion yuan while that for mobile services amounted to 305.7 billion yuan, down 3.4 percent from the previous year.

The number of 4G phone users subscribed to China's three major telecom operators continued to rise during the period, exceeding 1.2 billion and accounting for over 75 percent of the total mobile phone users by the end of April.

China aims to take various measures to ensure faster Internet access to businesses and individuals at lower costs.

The country plans to ensure gigabit broadband access in more than 300 Chinese cities this year, expand and construct at least 600,000 4G base stations and offer 4G services to more than 98 percent of administrative villages.