Chinese internet user base in 2015 would be more than the predictions of China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology
China saw the addition of 51 million web users in the year 2012 resulting in the internet using population in China to move up to 564 million that is up 10 percent over the last year.
You can compare this number of 51 million with other countries: it is almost equivalent to one and a third times the population of California or nearly half of the population of Japan or the entire population of Spain.
Recently, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) predicted that the China’s Internet user base will reach 800 million by the year 2015 i.e. nearly 11 million internet users per quarter will be added. However, if we look at the reports, 538 million internet users were added in China in the first half of the last year that climbed to 550 million in Q3 and now it is 564 million meaning more than 11 million internet users per quarter. If this rate will continue, China would reach near to 1 billion internet users by the year 2015.
The country also saw a huge increase in mobile web users, i.e. up 18.1% over year to 420 million, as reported by the China Internet Network Information Center (CINIC). This amount of internet usage is 75% of all internet users in the country.
Mobile usage is accelerating in China as shown by the sayings of Tim Cook, CEO Apple, that the country will soon become the biggest market of the company. Adding to this, the company has recently announced the launch of cellular models of iPad in China this week.
