SHANGHAI, Apr. 26 -- Internet users will have faster, easier access to the cyber world by the end of the year when the "wireless Shanghai" program goes into full swing.

Shanghai Telecom plans to invest four billion yuan (US$519.4 million) this year to upgrade the city's information technology infrastructure, including its wireless network and its existing broadband services, Zhang Weihua, chairman of the city's biggest telecommunications carrier, said yesterday.

Under its plan, Shanghai Telecom will build 2,000 wireless access points in public areas and provide Wi-Fi services in 100 office buildings and hotels, mainly in Xuhui, Jiading and Pudong districts.

Shanghai Telecom has already established a wireless network in Jiading that provides Wi-Fi services to the area, including the Shanghai International Circuit.

"The Jiading network is just a trial, and we plan to build a similar network in the World Expo area," Liu Jian, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Informatization Commission, told Shanghai Daily. "We might launch a citywide wireless network depending on feedback from the trial."

Through the wireless access points, people with laptops or Wi-Fi-enabled mobile phones would be able to go online.

Shanghai Telecom's other projects include faster broadband connections, network construction in rural areas and a new undersea cable linking China and United States.

"The investment is part of the preparations for World Expo 2010, and it will help Shanghai Telecom with its strategic transformation from a telecom service provider to an information and data service provider," Zhang said.

Wider coverage

Shanghai Telecom, the local subsidiary of China's biggest fixed-line operator, served 2.2 million broadband subscribers and more than eight million fixed-line phone users at the end of last year.

In 2007, Shanghai Telecom plans to provide 85 percent of local broadband users with access to two-megabyte bandwidth, increasing present speeds up to fourfold.

In new communities such as Tomson Riviera, Shanghai Telecom has installed 100MB-fiber optical services to family users.

With the improved network, people can enjoy data services such as Internet Protocol TV at home, industry insiders said.

By the end of 2007, Shanghai Telecom will cover 100 percent of more the city's 1,000 rural villages with fixed-line services, compared with 30 percent now.

"China's fixed-line phone carriers have to improve their data service income as the mobile carriers are eating into market share with their lower costs," Analysys International, a Beijing-based IT consulting firm, said in a note.

Meanwhile, Shanghai Telecom is constructing a trans-Pacific express cable with 640 gigabytes of bandwidth. The project is scheduled for completion next year.