ISLAMABAD, Aug 31 (ABC): By June 2022, the number of internet users in China has reached 1.051 billion, an increase of 19.19 million over last year, according to a newly-released report by China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) obtained by the Global Times on Wednesday.
Zhang Xiao, the deputy director from the CNNIC said the extended 5G network across the country has contributed to the increase of netizens in China this year as every county in China has access to 5G and every village in the country has broadband access.
The amount of 5G base stations across the country has surpassed 1.85 million. The total number of internet broadband access users of the three major telecom enterprises reached 563 million, an increase of 27.05 million over the end of 2021, according to the CNNIC report.
Following the internet infrastructure being constructed in more areas, the popularity of using internet in China is as high as 74.4 percent, 1.4 percentage points higher than in December 2021, the CNNIC report said.
The report also mentioned the internet situation among villages. The number of netizens based in villages is 293 million. The internet popularity rate in the country’s rural villages increased by 1.2 percentage points from December 2021 to 58.8 percent because all China’s existing administrative villages have achieved broadband access, Global Times reported.
Since the outbreak of the COVID-19, China is the first major economy to recover from the epidemic and continues to recover steadily, which is impossible without the support of the digital economy that injects new impetus into the epidemic prevention and control and economic circulation, the report said.
The average weekly online time of Chinese internet users is 29.5 hours, an increase of one hour compared with December 2021. Of all other channels, mobile phone is the most popular way for netizens to surf the internet, with the percentage reaching 99.6.
As of June 2022, the number of short-video users in China has seen the most significant growth, reaching 962 million, about 28,05 million higher than that in December 2021. It accounts for 91.5 percent of the total internet users, the CNNIC report said.