Mobile internet traffic more than doubles during Spring Festival holiday

BEIJING - Mobile internet traffic consumption in China more than doubled year-on-year during this year's week-long Spring Festival holiday as festive traditions increasingly go digital.

Chinese mobile internet users consumed 1.957 million terabytes of data from Feb 4 to Feb 10, up 130 percent year-on-year, data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology showed.

The ministry attributed the robust mobile internet traffic to the growing popularity of exchanging Chinese Lunar New Year greetings via videos and accelerating integration of online and offline services.

Supported by public services and corporate Spring Festival greetings, short messages also advanced 7.7 percent year-on-year to reach 13.33 billion pieces during the week-long holiday.

Official data showed that China had 1.31 billion mobile internet users by the end of last year, the largest in the world.