The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) disclosed July 22 that China's three telecom operators invested RMB 80 billion in 3G in the first half of 2009. Fixed asset investment in the telecom industry totaled RMB 129.14 billion in the half-year period, up 13.6% year-on-year. Telecom revenues in the first six months grew 2.3% year-on-year to RMB 417.1 billion, including a 2.7% year-on-year increase year-on-year in the second quarter and a 3.3% year-on-year increase in June.

China added 43.52 million phone users in the first six months to total 1.025 billion, and added 10.6 million broadband

Average telecom charges in the period dropped 8.5% year-on-year.

Lisa

Sun Danyong, a 25-year-old employee of Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Foxconn's Shenzhen subsidiary, jumped from the twelfth story to his death on July 16 after he was investigated by company departments for losing one of 16 iPhone prototypes, which was in his possession before being mailed to Apple. University classmates who examined Sun's chat history from the hours before his death said he had been unlawfully searched, detained and assaulted during the investigation, the report said.

According to sources in mid-july, Foxconn's Shenzhen subsidiary has begun mass production of China Unicom's customized 3G Apple iPhone version.

Lisa