China's net population becomes world's largest

China's net population, the world's largest, soared 42 per cent to 298 million by the end of 2008, while the population surfing the internet via their mobile phones has jumped a whopping 113 per cent in 2008 and at the current pace the growth is expected to gain momentum in the near future, according to China Internet Network Information Center.

China with a population of 1.3 billion, at the end of 2008, China's net population surpassed  that of the US as the world's largest internet market with its net population almost being the same as the entire population of the United States.

According to a report published by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), China's 633.8 million mobile phone population accessing the internet has touched 117 million, showing a huge increase in terms of numbers.

The CNNIC study also showed a marked increase around 60.8 per cent year-on-year to 84.6 million in internet penetration in the countryside compared to that of 35.6 per cent in the cities.

Mobiles have now become a medium to access the internet for a large number of people especially in the countryside where computer usage may be limited.

China has recently granted three mobile operators China Telecom, China Unicom and China Mobile licences to install the third generation (3G) mobile phone networks, which is expected to be operational in 2011.

The 3G phones provides higher speed for internet surfing, downloading data-heavy services such as videos, online games and TV, which will lead to escalated growth of mobile netizen in the coming years.

The main users of mobile internet facilities is the student community which is around 43.5 percent according to the study, who mainly access the net to download music, check email, read news online and for other purposes.

CNNIC statement said that China's internet penetration is still miniscule at only 22.6 per cent which is slightly higher than the world's average of 21.9 percent leaving scope for rapid growth.

According to Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) study at the end of 2008, 298 million Chinese used the internet, a jump of nearly 42 percent from the previous year, a figure much higher than their estimate.

Chinese internet population solely depended on the internet to read news which is eating into the traditional media domain.

Most Chinese access the internet via internet cafe's while the number of home and business internet user are also rapidly growing.

Now, the population getting hooked on to the web is increasing with PCs and internet access becoming affordable with internet offering wide spectra of facilities.

The Chinese government has been making attempts to tighten its grip on the internet by blocking certain websites.

The government is also using this as a tool to suppress political rebels in a country and banning sites that publicly criticise the government.

Last month the Chinese government launched a campaign to get rid of unhealthy, vulgar and pornographic content on the internet, which is an area of concern to the authorities.