China Internet to Go Faster & Cheaper

China will invest heavily in telecommunications infrastructure to increase Internet access speed by five times by 2015, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. 

At the same time, the Chinese government plans to decrease the broadband service rates generally 3-4 times more expensive than other countries.

Internet access in China is indeed currently rather slow, China's broadband bandwidth is currently ranked 71st in the world, China’s average being 1.8 Mbps compared to a global average of 5.6 Mbps.

By comparison, the average bandwidth in the US is currently 20-25 Mbps, five times that of China. 

China’s average broadband bandwidth is expected to hit 20 Mbps in urban areas (Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, etc.) by 2015, that is to say 5 times the current level while rural areas will reach 4 Mbps.

Regarding the costs, the leading broadband service provider, namely China Telecom, promised to cut rates by 35% by 2016.

China has the largest Internet population in the world (over 450 million users), and over 155 million family broadband users by the end of 2011.

More information and statistics about Internet in China to come very soon. Stay tuned!