| 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 | Office | Mobile | Distance Optical | Distance Microwave |
| Telephone | Telephone | Telephone | Cable Lines | Lines | |
| Exchanges | Exchanges | Exchanges | |||
| (circuit) | (10 000 lines) | (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 |
| 2005 | 13716307 | 47196.1 | 48241.7 | 723040 | 41055 |
| Beijing | 444680 | 1383.9 | 1782.0 | 3318 | 231 |
| Tianjin | 248432 | 622.3 | 619.0 | 1860 | |
| Hebei | 434630 | 2159.0 | 2041.5 | 18370 | 1169 |
| Shanxi | 289510 | 1122.3 | 1088.2 | 21300 | |
| Inner Mongolia | 255214 | 780.9 | 773.7 | 33089 | 638 |
| Liaoning | 678810 | 2022.8 | 1811.7 | 19724 | |
| Jilin | 292956 | 1082.4 | 1027.3 | 16757 | 63 |
| Heilongjiang | 319807 | 1495.3 | 1304.5 | 35735 | |
| Shanghai | 506857 | 1356.4 | 1991.0 | 4617 | 123 |
| Jiangsu | 930079 | 4187.5 | 3397.0 | 25699 | 1740 |
| Zhejiang | 569365 | 2874.9 | 3582.2 | 24801 | 1898 |
| Anhui | 443825 | 1622.8 | 1213.9 | 25488 | 951 |
| Fujian | 448521 | 1795.1 | 1573.7 | 24854 | 4994 |
| Jiangxi | 400094 | 1096.3 | 951.2 | 16260 | 2298 |
| Shandong | 598016 | 3437.8 | 2641.1 | 26869 | 601 |
| Henan | 585480 | 2266.0 | 2089.2 | 28716 | 1206 |
| Hubei | 468277 | 1605.5 | 1861.8 | 21672 | 2334 |
| Hunan | 474425 | 1562.3 | 1585.9 | 28097 | 5924 |
| Guangdong | 2111499 | 4778.0 | 7924.8 | 42643 | 6423 |
| Guangxi | 350375 | 1285.4 | 1310.0 | 32126 | 832 |
| Hainan | 90376 | 280.6 | 245.0 | 642 | 26 |
| Chongqing | 143316 | 1057.8 | 968.1 | 6601 | 522 |
| Sichuan | 616905 | 2237.6 | 1911.4 | 36497 | 1546 |
| Guizhou | 235876 | 690.6 | 610.3 | 22258 | 2855 |
| Yunnan | 215272 | 831.7 | 1207.0 | 26619 | 2 |
| Tibet | 54454 | 88.8 | 66.0 | 9576 | |
| Shaanxi | 314010 | 1230.9 | 1190.2 | 31249 | 1271 |
| Gansu | 166938 | 712.5 | 433.0 | 22250 | 340 |
| Qinghai | 84262 | 142.0 | 147.0 | 14671 | |
| Ningxia | 81661 | 198.1 | 211.6 | 7001 | 113 |
| Xinjiang | 268000 | 795.8 | 682.5 | 31245 | 2956 |
| Not Classified | 594385 | 393.0 | 62435 | ||
| by Region | |||||
| a) The capacity of exchanges in this table excludes the capacity of exchanges owned by users. | |||||