This Day, That Year: April 17

Editor's note: This year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of New China.

An item from April 18, 1986, in China Daily showed Beijing's first privately owned telephone switchboard in operation.

At that time, owning a telephone at home was a dream for many Chinese. They had to line up to make calls at public telephones.

After decades of development, communication in the digital age has reached levels of ease and convenience unimaginable just a few decades ago.

Smartphones allow users to go online and access social networking apps offering text, voice and video-messaging services, one-to-one or in group chats, all without additional charges.

Data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology showed China had 1.57 billion mobile subscribers by the end of last year.

As a result, the use of fixed phones, or landlines, has been declining steadily, and public telephone booths are virtually abandoned across the country.

One city, however, is trying to give them a second life. In Shanghai, public telephone booths have been equipped with Wi-Fi hot spots to enable the city to go wireless.

The booths will also provide a variety of community services, including telephone bill payments. In the future, the booths might even function as photo printing studios.

Last year, six public telephone booths were transformed to mini-libraries where readers can borrow books and enjoy free Wi-Fi.

The idea was inspired by the multifunction information stations provided by China Telecom's Shanghai branch during Expo 2010 Shanghai.

Once these Wi-Fi hot spots start to work, the major part of the city will be covered seamlessly by wireless signals.