Over 1.1 billion online: China's internet penetration reaches 79.7%

The 24th China Internet Conference opened in Beijing on Wednesday, showcasing the country's rapid progress in digital infrastructure and internet penetration.  

According to the event, China's internet penetration rate has reached 79.7 percent, with the number of internet users surpassing 1.1 billion, placing the country's several key development indicators among the world's highest.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Zhang Yunming, vice minister of China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, noted that China's internet industry is evolving toward greater platform support and a thriving ecosystem.  

He said that the number of telecom and internet businesses has nearly doubled from 94,000 to 187,000. Meanwhile, the combined revenue of China's top 10 internet companies has grown from 2.4 trillion yuan (about $335 billion) to over 4 trillion yuan. The number of "unicorn" companies has surpassed 400, marking an increase of over 80 percent during the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) period.

Zhang emphasized the need to accelerate the deep integration of the internet with artificial intelligence (AI), under the "AI+" initiative, and to expand the supply of digital products. He also called for strengthened development of new information infrastructure and deeper integration between digital networks and computing networks to enhance connectivity and the capabilities of AI infrastructure.

China now operates the world's largest 5G and gigabit optical networks, with a total of 4.486 million 5G base stations and a 5G user penetration rate of 78 percent. Gigabit broadband users have exceeded 200 million. In the first half of the year, mobile internet data usage reached 186.7 billion gigabytes, up 16.4 percent year on year.