Beijing has established China's largest communications satellite ground facility. It covers all of China and also connects to more than 200 countries and regions in the world, said sources affiliated with a symposium marking the 35th anniversary of China's satellite communications on Friday.

The satellite communications station in Beijing is a major Chinese communications hub. It has been serving both public needs and safeguarding national security through a multi-level broadband platform, said experts attending the symposium.

Live broadcasts covering the 2008 Olympic Games will be transmitted globally via the station, according to China Network Communication Co., the designated telecommunications service partner for the Games.

China's satellite communications industry started operations in 1972, the same year that the nation's first public satellite communications institution for civil purposes was built in Beijing.

(Xinhua News Agency October 21, 2007)