May 1 is coming. It is peak season for the transportation of vegetables, but CHEN Linxian, a rural broker from Aksu city in Xinjiang Province, wasn’t going around this year. Unlike the middle and eastern areas of the country, the west does not have a convenient transportation system or easy access to information, so agricultural products are often not sold at a good price. The villagers suffer a loss because of this lack of information. However, this year is different: the village now has access to the "CMCC Rural Information Network." Now they can access the internet or send text messages to find out prices and sell products, so brokers like CHEN Linxian no longer have to go out to look for buyers.

The CMCC Rural Information Network which will benefit 800 million farmers is being constructed in western China. It will then expand to the middle of the country and eastern areas. From June 2006, CMCC began building an information network targeting rural areas, agriculture and farmers, and started operations in October in 12 western provinces. The information platform is based on mobile phones and other mobile terminals, and by using text messages, phone calls and wireless access, users can access policy and regulations, news alerts on agricultural technology, labor information, early warning information, life and health-related information etc. The platform can also release enterprise and administrative information to meet needs of all levels of government agencies, agriculture-related enterprises and groups of information. The network provides Tibetan, Mongolian and other minority languages voice services, meeting the needs of China's ethnic minorities, and an expert services hotline, allowing professional experts to regularly provide farmers with targeted information, advice and to answer questions.

Farmers in the west and other concerned bodies warmly welcomed the CMCC agricultural information network as soon as it opened. State leaders from relevant ministries and local governments attach great importance to the network and are offering strong support and cooperation. Li Wei, deputy director of the SASAC, inspected the China Mobile Communication rural information network project and said: "You’ve really done a great thing for rural areas, for 800 million farmers! The Rural Information Service lags far behind urban areas and in order to improve rural economic development, village services, and administrative work, people have a very urgent demand for information. This is a revolutionary breakthrough in information technology in rural areas. You have made a great contribution to rural information modernization development and the construction of a harmonious society."

This year's "two conferences (NPC and CPPCC)" considered and approved how to actively promote modern agriculture and steadily advance the construction of new rural areas." It emphasized that accelerating the supply of agricultural information, using information technology about agricultural equipment, is of great significance in accelerating the rural economy. We should perfect agricultural information collection and distribution systems, integrate agriculture-related information resources, and promote agricultural information collected standardization. CMCC’s focus on rural communications and information technology is undoubtedly a revelation on how to accelerate the building of agricultural information. In addition to the agricultural information network, CMCC has invested about 13 billion Yuan in bringing telephones to 35,108 administrative villages, directly improving the administrative villages’ telephone ratio by five percentages.

Analysts believe that CMCC’s Rural Information Network is using information technology to promote modern agriculture. With the whole society’s focus on the construction of a new socialist countryside and the building of a harmonious society in general, CMCC is devoting much effort in promoting rural communication and information networks. It is also performing its important requirement that state-owned enterprises fulfill their social responsibilities.

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