Beijing has 10.37 million netizens

Beijing's relatively high internet charges are expected to be lowered in the future. Residents in the city's suburbs will be the first beneficiaries. At a “building a digital Beijing” press conference held on August 20 by Beijing Municipal Government Information Office, Li Hong, spokesman and deputy director of Beijing Municipal Bureau of Industrial Development, revealed that at the end of June there were 10.37 million netizens in Beijing, ranking first in China in terms of the number of internet users. 95 percent of the netizens use broadband internet and 48 percent connect to the internet using mobile phones.

“Since 2009, the software and information service industry has gradually overcome the impact of the international financial crisis, achieving steady growth and good development momentum.” Li said that in the first half of 2009, the software and information service industry in Beijing made 89.6 billion yuan in revenue, an increase of 16 percent year–on–year. Of this, software products made 39.17 billion yuan in revenue, up by 18.6 percent year–on–year; integrated services made 23.14 billion yuan, up by 17.3 percent year–on–year; and software technology services made 25.82 billion yuan, up by 13.5 percent year–on–year. In the first half, e-commerce transactions in Beijing reached around 114 billion yuan, an increase of about 9 percent.

According to the 2009-2012 plan to upgrade Beijing’s information infrastructure, Beijing will take the lead in China to build a high-speed broadband information network integrating urban and rural areas. By the end of 2012, broadband bandwidth for households will surpass 20 Mbps. To achieve this goal, Li said that this year the work will mainly focus on network construction and access planning, which will be completed in stages. The bandwidth is expected to reach 5 Mbps in 2010 before a gradual transition to between 10 and 20 Mbps. “At present, we are negotiating with several major operators such as China Unicom, China Mobile and China Telecom, who have invested several billion yuan this year. As the attitude of the operators is very positive, it will not be a problem to achieve the goal.”

“Internet charges in Beijing are relatively higher than other provinces. At present, ADSL charges range between 100 yuan and 120 yuan per month, which is not acceptable in rural areas,” Li said. Responding to questions about internet charges in rural areas, he pointed out that the municipal government has been negotiating with relevant operators. They will put forward a scheme to lower internet charges in Beijing’s rural areas in the near future, but the specific scale of the decrease is yet to be decided. “As technology advances, I believe that online rates in urban areas will also be lowered gradually. This will allow residents to access a variety of information at low cost, and the work in this respect has already started.”

“Beijing has issued over 25 million public transportation cards. The realization of a multi-purpose card has provided residents with convenient public services.” When asked whether the 20 yuan deposit charged for each card can be canceled, Li replied that this must be decided by municipal transportation authorities. He added that as technology advances, the deposit will be gradually eliminated once the cost is lowered.

Translated by LOTO