China's internet user number hits 854 million: report

BEIJING - The number of internet users in China had hit 854 million as of June 2019, with the internet availability rate reaching 61.2 percent, according to a report on China's internet development released Friday.

The number increased by 25.98 million from the end of last year, with the internet availability rate up 1.6 percentage points, stated the report issued by the China Internet Network Information Center.

A total of 847 million Chinese people used mobile phones to surf the internet, an increase of 29.84 million from the end of last year. Mobile phone users accounted for 99.1 percent of the total netizens, up 0.5 percentage points.

Compared to five years ago, the average download speed of mobile broadband has increased by about six times and the fee for mobile internet has dropped by over 90 percent.

Faster internet service at lower costs has greatly boosted usage growth, with the average monthly mobile data usage per user reaching 7.2 gigabytes (GB), 1.2 times the global average, said the report.