Tibet ranked first in the country in terms of the turnover growth rate of its telecommunications sector in 2009, according to statistics released by the Tibet Autonomous Regional Communications Administration.

Tibet's telecommunications industry reported a turnover of five billion yuan RMB (732 million U.S. dollars) last year, up 25.3 percent year on year, with its operating income shooting up 21 percent to 2.2 billion yuan RMB (322 million dollars).

File photo shows a ceremony to mark the launching of the Tianyi 3G services by China Telecom, in Lhasa, capital of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region.

Meanwhile, the industry's added value hit 922 million yuan RMB (135 million U.S. dollars) in 2009, accounting for 2.11 percent of Tibet's GDP, the value of goods and services produced.

Moreover, the three major telecom operators in Tibet, namely, the China Mobile Tibet Branch, the China Telecom Tibet Branch and the China Unicom Tibet Branch, have signed strategic cooperation framework agreements worth 9.35 billion yuan RMB (1.37 billion dollars) with the Regional Government to speed up the 3G network construction and business promotion.