Sichuan to Invest Heavily in 'Wireless City' Project

Authorities in southwest China's Sichuan Province plan to earmark 5 billion yuan (US$758 million) this year to its "wireless city" project to offer rapid, convenient Internet access to local people.

Communications authorities would build 9,600 3G network base stations across Sichuan, a province covering 485,000 square km with a population of more than 88 million, a provincial government spokesman said Friday.

More than 11,000 hotspots in the province would be covered by WLAN (wireless local area network) this year, the spokesman said.

The "wireless city" project would reach to rural areas too, he said.

"Rural towns would also benefit from the wireless network. In some rural areas neighboring major cities, the wireless service would even extend to villages," he said.

Sichuan has more than 4,500 rural towns.