China released its first quarter telecom industry report on Wednesday. The telecom industry's revenues grew by 5.7 percent in the first three months of the year, while revenues from the online sector saw a jump of 21 percent. The market value of the 88 public Internet companies in the country grew 16.2 percent. The number of people with access to 4G networks has exceeded 800 million, and data consumption per person per month is steadily growing. 

According to Wen Ku from the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, in 2017 China will push forward policies to increase Internet access speeds and lower relevant fees, and will continue to increase investment in telecommunications infrastructure.

The year ahead will see the coverage of optical networks increased, and 4G capability is expected to be expanded. By the end of 2017, China is aiming for household broadband to cover 63 percent of the population, and for 75 percent of the population to have mobile access to the Internet.

A report from think tank China Info 100 shows that the Chinese digital economy was worth over 22 trillion yuan (3.25 trillion US dollars) last year, more than Japan and the UK combined, and is the second largest digital economy in the world. 

The report expects it to grow 2.4 times faster than the US, and three times faster than Japan and the UK. 

Zhen Caiji from the China Chamber of International Commerce said Chinese technology is influencing the world. He mentioned the TD-LTE network in particular, saying the China-developed connection format is now a standard for smartphone networks worldwide. 

Zhen also said China is an innovative country and will be able to breed more tech companies like TaoBao and DiDi Dache. As having a strong digital economy will also speed up the transformation of traditional companies, he predicts this internet-driven transformation will become a 40 trillion yuan market by 2020.