China has 87 million Internet users
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-07-21 17:25

The number of Internet users in China has risen 28 percent over the past year to 87 million, and use of broadband and online commerce is soaring, the government said Wednesday.

The number of broadband subscribers has jumped 78.7 percent in the past six months to 31.1 million, the China Internet Network Information Center said on its Web site.

China already has the world's second-biggest online population after the United States.

According to the Network Information Center, a survey found that 58 percent of Chinese Internet users planned to start shopping online in the coming year.

The report could be a morale boost for Internet retailers who have struggled to fulfill early projections that China's 1.3 billion people would offer a huge online marketplace.

Growth of online commerce has been held back by China's lack of credit cards and poor delivery services. But entrepreneurs are developing new methods for online payment and distribution is improving.

The number of computers in China linked to the Internet has grown to 36.3 million, the agency said.

Despite the booming growth, China's population of Internet users still accounts for only 6.7 percent of the population, just over half the world average of 12.2 percent, the agency said.

Close

Today's Top News     Top China News
Iraq militants free Filipino hostage, target Japan         Nations team up on arms control         China squad targets 20-plus Olympic golds         Floods kill eight, affect millions         Energy shortfall to persist         900th GI dies since war began in Iraq	Floods kill eight, affect millions       Head of notorious crime ring executed       Wu Yi among Top 50 most influential figures in IP       Nations team up on arms control       South China Coal mine blast kills five, injures 15       Two killed, 53 missing in mudflow in Yunnan