Yangquan and Jinzhong in Shanxi province made the list of the 39 model cities of "Broadband China" this year.

The model cities have a higher broadband internet accessibility and penetration rate than the national average level.

Xinzhou and Jinzhong are now pilot cities for telecommunication universal service, which aims to promote the availability of quality services at affordable prices, especially in rural areas.

The Shanxi government launched a project called "Broadband Connecting Shanxi" in 2014.

It is expected that by 2020, the optical network will cover all city households and the broadband network will cover towns and counties.

Local authorities have vowed that by 2020, the province will have spent 45 billion yuan to make sure that all natural villages (of more than 20 households) will have access to broadband and that availability will then extend to the remaining villages.

In cities, fiber-to-home services will be adopted in newly built residential districts while fiber-replacing-cable operations will be brought into built-up areas.

In rural areas, it is expected that administrative villages will be covered by a broadband network while populated natural villages will have access to an optical network.

As for remote mountainous regions, the goal can be realized with a combination of wired and wireless networks.