| 16-42 Main Communication Capacity of Telecommunications (Year-end) | |||||
| Year | Capacity of | Capacity of | Capacity of | Length of Long | Length of Long |
| Region | Long-distance | Local Office | Mobile | Distance Optical | Distance Microwave |
| Telephone | Telephone | Telephone | Cable Lines | Lines | |
| Exchanges | Exchanges | Exchanges | |||
| (circuit) | (10 000 line) | (10 000 subscribers) | (km) | (km) | |
| 1978 | 1863 | 405.9 | 13958 | ||
| 1980 | 1969 | 443.2 | 13958 | ||
| 1985 | 11522 | 613.4 | 17275 | ||
| 1989 | 103269 | 1034.7 | 3.7 | 1851 | 26338 |
| 1990 | 161370 | 1231.8 | 5.1 | 3334 | 33626 |
| 1991 | 286325 | 1492.2 | 10.5 | 6490 | 39282 |
| 1992 | 521885 | 1915.1 | 45.3 | 14388 | 54418 |
| 1993 | 1206091 | 3040.8 | 156.1 | 38666 | 64368 |
| 1994 | 2416296 | 4926.2 | 371.6 | 73290 | |
| 1995 | 3518781 | 7203.6 | 796.7 | 106882 | 79634 |
| 1996 | 4162009 | 9291.2 | 1536.2 | 130159 | 71503 |
| 1997 | 4368305 | 11269.2 | 2585.7 | 150754 | 65013 |
| 1998 | 4491595 | 13823.7 | 4706.7 | 194100 | 66518 |
| 1999 | 5032026 | 15346.1 | 8136.0 | 239735 | 65228 |
| 2000 | 5635498 | 17825.6 | 13985.6 | 286642 | 121947 |
| 2001 | 7035769 | 25566.3 | 21926.3 | 399082 | 164052 |
| 2002 | 7730133 | 28656.8 | 27400.3 | 487684 | 193636 |
| 2003 | 8693998 | 35082.5 | 33698.4 | 594303 | 119886 |
| 2004 | 12629982 | 42346.9 | 39684.3 | 695271 | 56657 |
| Beijing | 334890 | 1109.1 | 1597.0 | 3244 | 171 |
| Tianjin | 251250 | 533.7 | 559.0 | 1490 | 119 |
| Hebei | 422780 | 2067.7 | 1728.0 | 18002 | 3546 |
| Shanxi | 256780 | 957.0 | 942.4 | 20085 | 918 |
| Inner Mongolia | 253744 | 722.4 | 677.8 | 31114 | 706 |
| Liaoning | 585450 | 1909.4 | 1613.2 | 18356 | 2741 |
| Jilin | 238747 | 1035.9 | 863.1 | 15902 | 1820 |
| Heilongjiang | 373220 | 1402.9 | 1145.5 | 34120 | 141 |
| Shanghai | 450007 | 1113.3 | 1768.0 | 4525 | 123 |
| Jiangsu | 804273 | 3615.7 | 2644.6 | 23057 | 2031 |
| Zhejiang | 535028 | 2620.6 | 3007.3 | 22889 | 2284 |
| Anhui | 411426 | 1453.0 | 941.2 | 24679 | 2524 |
| Fujian | 412449 | 1650.6 | 1370.7 | 22659 | 5047 |
| Jiangxi | 304242 | 922.3 | 780.3 | 14607 | 1947 |
| Shandong | 608107 | 3226.5 | 2152.4 | 21487 | 1901 |
| Henan | 561162 | 2068.1 | 1679.0 | 28849 | 1379 |
| Hubei | 425277 | 1437.2 | 1258.8 | 21371 | 2438 |
| Hunan | 401164 | 1410.2 | 1472.7 | 30286 | 6065 |
| Guangdong | 1868339 | 4593.3 | 5870.8 | 45807 | 6529 |
| Guangxi | 351758 | 1072.6 | 1073.7 | 30206 | 2574 |
| Hainan | 78376 | 262.6 | 194.0 | 618 | 383 |
| Chongqing | 160553 | 904.8 | 875.2 | 6160 | 522 |
| Sichuan | 612931 | 1801.8 | 1654.9 | 33218 | 1546 |
| Guizhou | 211168 | 565.7 | 540.3 | 21529 | 2781 |
| Yunnan | 194100 | 749.8 | 881.7 | 26068 | 2 |
| Tibet | 51064 | 89.1 | 57.0 | 7340 | 225 |
| Shaanxi | 299999 | 1080.4 | 961.2 | 29694 | 2800 |
| Gansu | 138440 | 623.2 | 418.0 | 21873 | 355 |
| Qinghai | 67622 | 126.9 | 135.0 | 14566 | 3 |
| Ningxia | 56239 | 174.6 | 179.8 | 6732 | 81 |
| Xinjiang | 234130 | 718.6 | 641.7 | 32328 | 2956 |
| Not Classified | 675267 | 327.9 | 62411 | ||
| by Region | |||||
| a)The capacity of exchanges in this table excludes the capacity of exchanges owned by users. | |||||