On July 17, the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) released its 32nd issue of the China Internet Development Statistics Report. It showed that, as of the end of June 2013, the number of China’s netizens reached 591 million. Of those, the mobile phone users reached 464 million, or 78.5 percent.
The first half of this year has seen 26.6 million new netizens, 70.0 percent of whom use their mobile phone to access the Internet. The Internet has also expanded rapidly in rural areas, with 54.4 percent of the new Internet users coming from rural areas. The CNNIC report attributed the rapid increase to the development of the 3G network, wireless network, and mobile phone app innovations. Among all means of communications, Chinese netizens still favor instant messaging. As of the end of June 2013, 497 million people were users of instant messaging. Of those, 397 million used their mobile phones to send and receive messages.
Source: People’s Daily, July 18, 2013
http://finance.people.com.cn/n/2013/0718/c1004-22234040.html