China Internet user base over 903 million at end of 1Q20, says CNNIC

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The number of Internet users in China increased to an estimated 903.59 million at the end of the first quarter of 2020, according to the latest semiannual survey conducted by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC).

The number of users rose 7.38% on year and was equivalent to a user density or penetration rate of 64.5%, CNNIC indicated. Of the users, 896.9 million or 99.26% used handsets for mobile access. During July 2019-March 2020, the average time of using Internet services a week per surfer was 30.8 hours.

At the end of 2019, there were 417.40 million FTTH/O (fiber to the home/office) subscribers, accounting for 92.9% of subscribers of fixed-line broadband access to the Internet.

During the third quarter of 2019, the average download speed for fixed-line broadband access to the Internet stood at 37.69Mbps, increasing 50.8% on year, and that for 4G mobile access to the Internet at 24.02Mbps, up 11.9%.

There were 387.51 million IPv4 addresses and 50,877 blocks/32 of IPv6 addresses as well as 4.97 million websites and 50.94 million domain names registered in China at the end of 2019.

China had total international Internet bandwidth of 8,827.751Gbps at the end of 2019, and China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom together accounted for 98%.

China: Breakdown of Internet users, end of 1Q20
CategoryItemPercentage
GenderMale51.9%
Female48.1%
Age group< 103.9%
10-1919.3%
20-2921.5%
30-3920.8%
40-4917.6%
≥ 5016.9%

Source: CNNIC, complied by Digitimes, May 2020

China: Breakdown of Internet access by device, end of 1Q20
CategoryType of devicesPercentage
Device*Desktop42.7%
Notebook35.1%
Handset99.3%
Tablet29.0%
TV32.0%

*A user may have more than one choice
Source: CNNIC, compiled by Digitimes, May 2020

China: Top Internet services used in 1Q20
ServiceProportion* of surfers for often using the service
Instant messaging99.2%
Online video94.1%
Online payment85.0%
Search engine83.0%
Online news80.9%
Online shopping78.6%
Online music70.3%
Live video streaming62.0%
Online gaming58.9%
Reading content50.4%

*Based on multiple choices
Source: CNNIC, compiled by Digitimes, May 2020