China's Internet Industry Expected to Grow Despite Financial Crisis

Under the shadow of the economic crisis, the Chinese internet industry has continued to grow steadily.

Han Xia of the China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology notes that the internet is now more accessible than ever before.

"For the first three quarters of the year, the number of Chinese internet users is now over 360 million, or more than 27% of the population. The number of registered dot CN websites now totals more than 15 million and the number of broadband users in China is now over 340 million. The internet is now more accessible to every city in the country. Accessibility in the countryside has also increased dramatically. Currently, over 95% of townships are now connected to broadband and almost 91% of villages can now surf the web."

The rise in internet users greatly benefited the online retailers. E-commerce has gained a significant foothold in the economy with total transactions in 2008 reaching 3 trillion yuan, or $440 billion US dollars, accounting for 10% of the total domestic retail sales.

For Zhang Xin of China Telecom, the financial crisis can be viewed as an opportunity for internet based businesses to expand.

"The economic crisis is a reminder that investment in this industry is not easy to come by so it must depend on newer technology, lower operating costs, and higher efficiency. Under these conditions, the internet will be an ever greater part of society and of greater benefit for people's lives."

The focus is not only on increasing accessibility of the internet but also on the infrastructure needed to fully support the hundreds of millions of web users. Further development of wireless networks and capability, Internet Protocol Television and mobile video capacity are vital for development for the industry.

Internet security is also a hot topic at the conference. Important topics that are prevalent in the forum include the prevention and containment of internet fraud, computer viruses, pornography, and illegal online businesses.

Larry Chen, CRI News.