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18 April 2007
China
to Double Broadband Users by 2011, Says MPA
By Mark Lee
Bloomberg News
China may double high-speed Internet users by 2011 as
the nation's economic growth makes the service more
affordable for a growing number of people, a research
report said today.
The country will have a total of 126 million broadband
users
in four years’ time, Vivek Couto, executive director
of Hong Kong-
based research firm Media Partners Asia Ltd., said in
a telephone
interview. China added 14.4 million broadband subscribers
last
year for a total of 51.9 million, according to government
data.
China Telecom Corp. and China Netcom Group Corp. (Hong
Kong)
Ltd., the country’s two largest providers of broadband
connections,
are increasing sales of the services to boost growth
as demand for
fixed-line telephone connections slows. Broadband services
allow
users to download Internet content such as videos and
music faster
than traditional analogue modems.
“Demand for broadband is driven by economic growth
and the increasing availability of personal computers,” said
Couto. The popularity of Web services such as online games, as
well as Internet protocol television, are also boosting demand,
he said.
The high-speed Internet market may be worth $9.2 billion
in
2011, compared with $4.5 billion last year, Couto said.
China Telecom gained 7.3 million broadband customers
last year for a total of 28.3 million. China Netcom gained
3.6 million broadband users in 2006, taking its total to 15.1 million.
Sales of broadband services accounted for 14 percent
of China Telecom's total revenue of 167.2 billion yuan ($21.7
billion) last year, and 12.3 percent of China Netcom's sales of 85.5
billion yuan, the two companies said.
By 2011, 28 percent of China's households will have
broadband connections, Couto said, more than double the 13 percent
at the end of last year. By comparison, Japan, which had 26.1
million
broadband users, had a market penetration rate of 55
percent at
the end of last year, Couto said.
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