Lhasa, February 12, (Xunhua News Agency) -- Ninety-seven percent of the counties in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region entered the national long-distance telephone automatic exchange networks last year. Statistics show that Tibet now has a telephone exchange capacity of 59,257 lines and 35,097 telephone sets, or 1.5 sets for each 100 people.

The region has stepped up the construction pace of postal and telecommunications facilities over the past few years. The completion of the Lhasa-Xigaze and Lhasa-Shannan optical cables has given Tibet optical fiber telecommunications for the first time. The long-distance telecommunications project in this regional capital, involving a total investment of 41.58 million yuan, is expected to be completed in June this year. Lhasa's local telephone system has a telephone exchange capacity of 20,000 lines and has been upgraded to seven digits. Tibet handled a gross posts and telecommunications business volume worth 57.4 million yuan in 1995, up 39.59 percent over the previous year.