100 Million Chinese Internet Users - More Growth To Come

The number of Web users in China, the world's second largest Internet market, grew by 9 million people in the first half of this year to hit 103 million. The growth represented an increase of 18.4 percent over the same period last year in a market that still has vast potential for further growth, While more than 67 percent of the U.S. population, about 135 million, have access to the Internet, in China the percentage is only about 7.9 percent. State media previously predicted 120 Chinese million would be surfing the Web by the end of the year as computers find their way into more homes and domestic telecoms networks grow. Nearly 20 percent of China's Web surfers had shopped online, and Internet-based transactions in the six months of 2005 could total around 10 billion yuan ($1.23 billion), "Most of China's Internet users are well educated and have hefty purchasing power," analyst Lu Weigang was quoted as saying. The burgeoning online gaming market proved especially lucrative, with Internet gamers spending 4 billion yuan on virtual equipment for their online alter-egos in the first six months, it said. The Internet's explosive growth in China has come despite the government's stepped-up efforts to control of the medium, in which occasional pockets of free speech have appeared in chat sites and blogs.
We earlier covered the progress of internet in china wherein we pointed out The Chinese government has paved the way for Internet growth by investing $138 billion in telecommunications networks in the past five years. China's online revenue - which includes sales from advertising and from Internet gaming and wireless services - grew 35 percent last year and is expected to rise 30 percent in 2005.China is a giant market that's growing quickly. There's a lot more demand that can be satisfied.