China Mobile announced on April 8 that the company plans to deploy networks, leveraging mainly 2.5G technology, in rural China within the next three years, according to an AFP report on April 8. The investment is valued at around 70 billion RMB (US$10.2 billion; US$1 = 6.84 RMB). In the past five years, the company has spent 19.5 billion RMB (US$2.85 billion) in the development of its rural network, with the service coverage reaching around 60,000 villages so far, the Sohu IT News reported. With its network expansion plan, China Mobile plans to add more than 10,000 villages per year during the three-year period. Meanwhile, the company will set up 100,000 information service stations by 2011 in rural areas as well.