111 million use web in China

The number of web-users in China, the world's second-largest internet market, grew 18 per cent last year to 111 million, the Economic Daily has reported.

About 8.5 per cent of the country's 1.3 billion people now had access to the internet, the newspaper said, citing a survey released by the China Internet Network Information Centre.

State media had predicted that 120 million Chinese would be surfing the web by the end of 2005 as computers find their way into more homes and domestic telecommunications networks grow.

Last year's gains represented an acceleration from 2004, when the number of internet users grew 16 per cent to 94 million.

More than half of the web population - or about 64 million people - have broadband connections.

China is the world's No 2 PC market, with nearly 16 million computers shipped in 2004 and the number expected to have grown another 13 per cent last year, says data tracking firm International Data Corp.

PC makers, such as industry leaders Lenovo Group, Founder Group and Dell, shipped 5.2 million computers in the third quarter of last year, according to IDC.

The boom in internet use has also spawned a growing number of Chinese online companies, including e-commerce firm Alibaba.com (with Yahoo investment), web portal Sina, online game firm Shanda Interactive Entertainment and online search firm Baidu.com.

Major multinationals have also set up shop in China, including online auctioneer eBay, retailer Amazon.com and leading search-engine company Google.

- REUTERS