The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) of China recently published a report on the Chinese telecom industry in January 2014. The statistics showed that the total users of mobile internet services reached 838 million in January 2014, accounting for 67.8% of all mobile phone users. Mobile internet traffic also saw a remarkable YoY increase of 46.9% in January, amounting to 133 million G in total and 165.1 M per capita, of which 80.8% was generated from mobile phone connection.
According to the MIIT report, the net increase of telephone users nationwide was 4.976 million, bringing the total number up to 1.501 billion. Fixed broadband internet users also increased by 2.264 million, a biggest net increase in the past 9 months which brought the total number to 191 million.
Driven by 3G technologies, the number of mobile phone users increased by 6.157 million in January, making it 1.235 billion in total nationwide. 3G mobile phone users increased by 17.627 million to 419 million, setting a new record of net monthly increase and in the mean time, bringing the percentage of 3G users among all mobile phone users up by 2.3 percentage point to 33.9%. Among the 419 million 3G users, 49% used TD, an increase of 1.4 percentage point from the end of last year.
By contrast, the user base of 2G mobile internet shrank to 528 million in the same month. As 2G users upgraded to 3G internet, the percentage of 2G users among all mobile internet users decreased to 42.8% from 44.8% at the end of last year.