The People?s Republic of China?s telecommunications industry grew by 33% in 1997, according to China?s Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications. The country?s telephone network has 111 million lines, 19.6 million of which were installed last year. The ministry expects to have 14 long-distance fiber-optic trunk lines covering 820,000 km in the future. Its digital telecommunications services cover 90% of the cities and counties.

MetroNet Communications plans to light a 17-km fiber-optic network and provide Toronto businesses with a choice in local telecommunications services by year-end. Under an agreement with the city, MetroNet refurbished a decommissioned water pipe system and installed a fiber-optic network throughout business, financial, and government areas downtown. The facilities-based provider of local telephone service also recently opened a Toronto-based network operations center to monitor its nationwide network.