Transport, postal and telecom services 2020

Transportation

China's transport industry saw steady recovery as investment in its infrastructure rose 6 percent year-on-year in the first half of the year to top 1.45 trillion yuan ($207 billion), according to the Ministry of Transport.

The country's investment in the construction of roads and waterways rose 7.8 percent to 1.08 trillion yuan during the January-June period, accounting for over 60 percent of the annual target set for this year.

Investment in railway infrastructure hit 325 billion yuan over the past six months, while civil aviation infrastructure reached 40.1 billion yuan, representing more than 40 percent of their annual targets.

By July 23, construction had resumed on all of the 625 key transport projects, and 430 new road and waterway projects had been launched to cushion the economic blow of the coronavirus.

China will continue to expand investment in the transport sector and promote the construction of major transport projects including the Sichuan-Tibet Railway and Beijing-Xiong'an expressway.

The ministry encourages the private sector to fund transport infrastructure, and barriers to market access should be leveled to maintain a fair competitive order.

With the resumption of economic activities and social life, passenger trip volume, though still at a low level compared to the same period last year, has seen an upturn after the epidemic-induced setback.

In the first half of the year, 16.9 billion passenger trips were made via public transportation in the country's 36 major cities, a year-on-year decline of over 48 percent.

But the figure in June reclaimed about 69 percent of last year's volume and was over 37 percent higher than the end of the first quarter.

The country witnessed similar decreases in intercity passenger trips during the period, which slumped 54.8 percent to 3.96 billion.

Postal service

China's courier sector posted steady growth in October, according to an industry index.

The China express delivery development index came in at 302.4 last month, surging 38.9 percent from the same period last year, said the State Post Bureau in a report.

The country's courier sector saw faster expansion in October, with the related sub-index for development scale jumping 32.6 percent year-on-year.

Over 64.1 billion parcels were delivered in the first 10 months of the year, exceeding the total number of parcels handled by the sector last year.

In October alone, the courier sector handled an estimate of 8 billion parcels, up 38.9 percent year-on-year. The bureau attributed the increase to strong online consumption fueled by the National Day holiday as well as the preliminary Singles' Day promotion.

Telecommunication service

China's telecommunications industry reported steady growth in the first half of this year.

The combined revenue of the sector reached 692.7 billion yuan ($99.1 billion) during the period, up 3.2 percent year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Revenue from fixed-line communications of the three telecom giants -- China Telecom, China Mobile and China Unicom -- totaled 236.3 billion yuan in the period, rising 12 percent year-on-year.

Their revenue from data and internet business, mainstay of the increase in the sector's business revenue, saw stable growth during the period, said the MIIT.

The steady growth in the sector's business revenue indicated that China's economic recovery and the development of new applications and new business models are gaining momentum.