According to data released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) on July 28, another 10.63 million users got access to the broadband Internet in China in the first half of the year, adding the total users to 93.482 million.  Meanwhile, the dial tone internet access dropped by 2.338 million.

Total phone users increased by 43.519 million in the first half with total users reached 1.025 billion, with which landline phone users dropped 10.43 million to 330 million, and mobile phone users increased 53.954 million to 695 million in total.  Mobile phone revenue accounted for 54.9% in the first half of 2008, but the ratio increased to 59.09% in first half 2009.

China's top three telecommunication operators, China Telecom, China Mobile and China Unicom, have invested 80 billion yuan to boost the third-generation (3G) network so far this year, according to a release by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology last Wednesday.

Fixed assets investment in the telecommunication industry jumped 44.7% in the west part of China, as compared with 11.8% and 21.2% in the east and the middle part of the country. 

Most Chinese netizens used the Internet for news, entertainment and social networking. Online shopping was gaining popularity as the number of shoppers jumped by 14 million in six months to 87.9 million by June.